Yugioh:The lost Knight
by Greywing44
Summary: A mysterious organization, an ancient evil, and one girl with no memory. Watch as her story unfolds, will she be crushed under the pressure? Or become a true knight?
1. The Awakening!

**Grey:Dear god how life has kicked my ass...**

 **Forever Free Evergreen(Free): Yes, yes it has.**

 **Grey:...It hurt you too!**

 **Free: Yes...but unlike you I can take the suffering like a duck, just washes off my back.**

 **Grey: Gahhh...Anyway, trying something new in order to get my creative juices flowing after a long hiatus. So here we go...**

* * *

" _Somebody...Somebody please help me_!"

A scream echoed through the setting of a forest, one that seemed untouched by human hands. A sound like that seemed so out of place in somewhere peaceful like this...At least that's what the subject watching felt like...

* * *

"Sayer, a change has been detected in the subject's body."

"What is it!?"

"See this wavy pattern here? It's likely that the subject is communicating with the Spirit World."

"Really? So all our research up to this point hasn't been for nothing yet." Everything was swimming...dimly hearing the voices that seemed close yet so far away..."Okay that's enough for now. Maybe it's time we put this one to work for us. Even if the subject can't use psychic powers, I'm sure we'll have a decent duelist on our hands."

"Ah, the subject's eyes have opened..." Right after those words were uttered things swam...color forming shapes...The shapes forming a kind looking woman looking down through glass. Having short brown hair and brown eyes, dressed in a green and white robe...

"When our friend here is able to walk, take our little protégé to her room." A turn of the head and the view shifted to a man with strange hair and a green vest. "But make sure no one finds out the subject is not a psychic duelist. If anyone finds out about this, our secret might be leaked to the outside world."

"Understood."

* * *

A girl in a black cloak panted as she ran, having no other destination other than to get _away_...Having met another person... _cursed_ with a mark similar to her own! It only meant nothing but misfortune and suffering! She had to get away...had to get home...to her own kind, the people who understood her...

Rounding another corner, the girl skidded to a stop her heart leaping into her throat as she saw three shadowy figures in the ally further up ahead blocking her path...but then breathed out a sigh of relief when they stepped into the light and gave her an all too familiar salute with their arms across their chests. There were two boys, one having dark brown hair and glasses, the other having sandy blond hair, the last one(And most likely the leader) was the girl in front. Having dark orange hair around her shoulders with dark, and strangely empty black eyes.

"We're here to take you home, Akiza Izinski." And never has she been more than happier to hear those words...

* * *

 **Grey:Alright what did you think? Too short? It's too short isn't it?!**

 **Free:Cool your jets Grey. It's fine...but you did forget to do the disclaimer.**

 **Grey: Ah...Right. I don't own Yugioh 5ds, or Yugioh reverse of Arcadia. And neither does free.**

 **Free:If I did, do you really think I would be working my ass off 24/7?**

 **Grey; Good point.**


	2. Battle at the Fortune Cup!

**Forever Free Evergreen aka Free: Remind me: why did I have to do some of this?**

 **Greywing44 aka Grey: To see if it'll get you motivated to updating your stuff.**

 **Free: And you needed my help to keep going with this.**

 **Grey: That too. What? You'd rather leave good fics like this and yours undone?**

 **Free: Point taken. Neither me nor grey own anything Yu-Gi-Oh! related although I do own a decent Scrap deck**

 **Grey: Actual or game?**

 **Free: ...Game.**

 **Grey: Thought so.**

* * *

Sayer strode with purpose into the observation room overlooking the test room where his latest subject was duelling using prearranged structure decks.

"How's our new recruit doing?" He inquired to the member tasked with overseeing the girl's progress.

"Duelling-wise, she is on par with Miss Akiza. Had she woken up sooner we could have possibly used her to help train Miss Akiza for the Fortune Cup." The observer answered without taking her eyes off the duel giving the Movement leader a quick rundown of the duels won and duel-puzzles she had watched the subject pass as if she had been born duelling.

Sayer took in all this information like a sponge. When he had first come upon the subject, it had merely been due to the fact she had been talking to another red head about the Spirit World. To now find she was also a duelling prodigy, this girl was definitely a diamond in the rough and you could not get any rougher than the savage lands of Satellite.

"Have there been any signs indicating she has been contacted or in contact with the Spirit World again or perhaps the sleeping beauty upstairs?" Sayer asked. It had only been a day since the subject had woken up but it never did hurt to tempt fate once in a while

"None whatsoever along with no signs of any psychic abilities also." Came the curt reply.

The leader of the Arcadia Movement cared little about the latter only interested in the subject because it looked like she had some sort of connection to the world of Duel Monsters similar to the young girl he had his members 'escort' here after the quarter finals of the Fortune Cup had ended. By the looks of things, if he did not gain anything more useful out of that girl, all she would be useful for is helping Akiza improve her own duelling skills and being a decoy although he would prefer not losing such a valuable pawn even if it had been sleeping most of the time while the brainwashing had been implied.

Speaking of Satellite and his darling rose, there was that Satellite participating in the Fortune Cup, one Yusei Fudo. According to Akiza, he also had a mark and was likely already in Goodwin's clutches or soon would be so trying to convince him to be a member would be risky if not out of the question. There was also the possibility that Yusei and the subject knew each other meaning he would have to keep the lad from Satellite monitored and away from both girls under his wing just in case.

For now, he would keep the subject doing menial tasks along with the rest of the rookie members so as to prevent any suspicions from growing among the ranks. And he knew just what he could give the girl to pass away the time.

"Have the subject and her roommates come to my office once she has finished her training." He ordered as he leaved the room

* * *

The orders were simple...Support Akiza Izinski during the fortune cup. The three rookie members of the Arcadia Movement stood outside the stadium where it was being held, many members of the Securities stood vanguard at the front entrance, barring entrance to anyone unsavoury...Unfortunately that's what the group was.

"We're not actually entered in the tournament, and we also don't have tickets so we can't get in from the front..." Liquid, the boy with dirty blond hair mused.

"...What about over there?" The girl pointed to what looked to be a side garage.

"Smashing idea, Will. Let's be quick about it shall we?" The boy with brown hair, Okita, smiled before the three rushed towards the door, Liquid kept lookout as Will knelt at the door. Using a Bobby pin from her hair to pick the lock with a surprising amount of deftness for an amnesiac...

* * *

The three then snuck into the stadium from the loading dock, finding the place mostly deserted besides the guards at the front gate. One would say the security sucks but the three had more pressing matters to attend to. Like the duel between Akiza Izinski and Yusei Fudo.

"Will, go into the waiting room and watch the viewing screen." Okita quickly took charge. "Liquid, you keep an eye out for any guards, I'll look around."With that the three split up.

Will moved in front of the screen...her empty eyes showing a spark of life as she placed her hand on the screen. Seeing the last round of the duel..."Yusei...Fudo..."

* * *

Red hair flowed when the special, metal limiter flew out of her hair, white mask covering the upper half of her face..."This discussion is over! I activate Black Rose Dragon's special ability!" Akiza roared as she lifted her hand up. Willing her dragon to let lose all of her rage, all of her loneliness...The beautiful Dragon roared out, it's wings beating and letting lose a hurricane, glass broke, chairs were starting to creak from the strain of remaining bolted. "All of your cards are destroyed! Along with this stadium!"

"I won't let you do this! I activate my dragon's special ability!" A man with black spiky hair roared as he lifted up his hand. "I'll sacrifice him, to stop this destruction!" Stardust Dragon roared as his wings extended, flying at Black Rose Dragon and slammed into her...giving the struggling beast what looked to be a hug ignoring the thorny vines striking against its flanks. "Stop fighting, Akiza! The dragon inside you wasn't meant to destroy!" Then...one by one, the mighty beasts disappeared in golden light.

"She's gone...Black Rose Dragon is gone..." Akiza sounded in a voice that was full of loneliness. Yusei stood at full attention at the tone as the card on his field was destroyed. "But that doesn't mean we're finished here Yusei! Prevention Star is gone too, which means Amarilis can now attack, but you still have that face down Yusei, don't you? The question is, will it be enough? You've wasted your time trying to save me, now it's time to see if you can save yourself! Let's see if you can stop me."

"I never wanted to stop you, I wanted to save you!" Yusei pressed, making Akiza flinch under her mask. "And I intend to with Cosmic Blast!" A trap card depicting a dragon in the sky with purple blasts of energy materialised before the duelist. "Since stardust dragon left the field, you lose life points for all of its attack points! You would've seen it coming if you weren't hiding behind that mask!" The spirit of Stardust Dragon flew up behind Yusei, taking in the leftovers of the rose petal tornado...and exploded.

 _ **Akiza Izinski: 0**_

 _ **Yusei Fudo: 1200**_

Akiza made a sound of surprise as a shard struck the middle of her mask, reducing it to useless pieces of plaster that clattered to the ground...Yusei holding in his gasp as he saw her brown eyes filled with tears under her long bangs. "That's right...the Black Rose is crying..." She confirmed with a hollow tone...

"Akiza..."

* * *

"Will!" The girl was pulled out of her stupor with Liquid's hand on her shoulder.

"Huh?" The life that emerged in her eyes was gone as if it was never there to begin with. "What happened? What?" She looked around behind him for any guards just to be safe. "Have we been compromised?"

"No, I just hear lots of cheering. What's going on?" Liquid asked as he shook her by the shoulder slightly, as if to try to restart her brain from whatever trance she was in. "Has the duel finished? More importantly, have you seen Okita? He's taking forever!"

Speak of the devil, said boy walked into the waiting room with a grim look on his face. "I apologize for my lateness but I have news: Akiza Izinski just lost."

"What?" Liquid groaned as Will wasn't fazed by the information. "Don't we need her for this plan to work?!"

"I suppose we should just go home and forget about it." Will suggested in an emotionless tone. "We aren't needed here anymore, and even coming here was probably a waste of time."

"True...But it couldn't hurt to take a peek around before we go on our merry way correct?" Okita smiled at the two. Making them look at each other before nodding as they followed after Okita.

But they didn't get more than a few steps outside..."Nice job, Akiza. Now let's go home." Sayer said in a surprisingly optimistic mood as the two rounded a corner of the hall to come face to face with his three underlings.

"But...I..." Akiza clutched Sayers coat around her shoulders like a shield. Looking tired, sad, and...hollow...

"Let's go. You need rest now." Was all Sayer said as they kept walking till he met up with them. "Everyone, the plan in on hold. We're going home." Will clutched her arm slightly as she glanced at Akiza's slumped form, feeling a slight...sting.

"Ehehehe! Stop right there Akiza Izinski!" A...clown looking man sounded at the elevator with two black suited men flanking him. "Director Goodwin would like to see you."

Sayer grunted. "As if I would ever want to give him the time of day."

"Hehehe! Feisty aren't we? I guess I'll have to take you by force!" Lazar chuckling. The two goons on either side of him stepped forward.

Sayer was getting annoyed not just with the clown but with the conflicting emotions his Black Rose was going through thanks to that Satellite boy. He needed to get her back to the Movement's building as soon as possible to reverse whatever that Satellite had done to her and this clown was not helping any. Fortunately, he had prepared for this outcome.

"I don't have time for this nonsense. Take care of these guys. I have to take Akiza home so she can rest." He ordered of Will and the others before leading Akiza away.

As Lazar and his men made to follow, the three Arcadian members blocked their path bringing out their standard duel disks.

"Oh? You wish to stand in the Directors way?" Lazar snickered finding it amusing while the two guards kept their composure. "Very well. If you will not back down, you shall be taken down then interrogated at great length about the inner workings of your 'Movement'."

With a sharp snap of his fingers, the two guards stepped forward while activating their duel disks.

"While I would normally be chivalrous and allow you a minute to decide among yourselves who to send for the slaughter first, time is of the essence and some of us wish to see the duel between the King and Satellite and not deal with minor insects." Lazar drawled.

"And some of us would like to not have to duel monkeys-" Liquid growled before getting cut off by Okita extending his hand in front of him.

"Now now, there's no need to sink to his level, Liquid." Okita smiled as he moved his hand back and pushed up his glasses looking much like a mischievous fox with his closed eyes and smile. Liquid crossed his arms and grumbled in annoyance as Okita and Will took their spots.

"The parameters will be the same either way: defeat them and finish the mission." Will stated tonelessly as she lifted up her arm and extended her duel disk.

"Exactly." Okita smiled as he did the same, duel disk extending. "Would you like to go first gentlemen?"

"Oooooh, confident little worker ants. Takanabi, Mashiro, if the two of you be kind enough to put your feet down- preferably on their heads." Lazar snickered.

"Yessir!" The two replied curtly drawing their hands before the dark haired one drew a sixth indicating he would be kicking things off.

 _ **Takanabi & Mashiro: 4000**_

 _ **Will & Okita: 4000**_

"I'll start this off by summoning Gladiator Beast Andal in attack mode!" Takanabi declared slapping a Normal Monster card a huge bear like warrior materializing in front of him in roman armor.

Gladiator Beast Andal **(4 ATK/DEF:1900/1500)**

"I'll also place one card face down and end my turn." The man finished of placing another card into one of five slots for the spell and trap zones. The back of a card was seen flat on the ground before disappearing.

"My move." Will sounded simply before drawing her card from her deck. "I set two cards face down, and summon Psychic Snail in attack mode." A large man with a snail like shell and lighting coursing through its body appeared on her field, along with two cards appearing behind it before disappearing.

Psychic snail **(4 ATK/DEF: 1900/1200)**

"Attack." At the command, the beast shot lightning at the monster in front of it.

"I activate my face down card: Defensive Tactics! When this card is activated, any Gladiator Beasts I control cannot be destroyed in battle!" Takanabi intervened. Reappearing in front of the duelist, a swarm of hexagonal plates emerged from the purple framed card to swirl around Andal taking the attack leaving the beast unharmed unlike the snail which disintegrated in the backlash. "Too bad the same can't be said for your slug!"

If Will was fazed, it didn't show, she just maintained her emotionless air..."I end my turn."

"My turn!" Mashiro declared drawing a card. "I summon Gladiator Beast Equeste in attack mode!"

A winged centaur appeared in front of the duelist wearing royal blue armor similar to that of the black bear standing beside it

Gladiator Beast Equeste **(4 ATK/DEF:1600/1200)**

"And with no monsters to protect your life points, you're wide open to a direct attack. Gladiator Beast Equeste, attack with Stampeding Charge!" He ordered.

Scraping at the ground with one hoof, the winged centaur suddenly surged towards the two Movement Members

"Before you do that, I activate my trap card: Threatening Roar." Will called as a card flipped up, a picture of a monster cowering under the force of another monster. Sound waves came out of the card and forced the charging monster back onto its ass. "Due to its effect, none of your monsters can declare an attack."

Mashiro scowled behind his glasses. Due to that trap, he could not activate Gladiator Beast Equeste's ability. Grabbing one card in his hand, he added it to the spell and trap zone beneath his monster.

"I play the equip spell card: Gladiator Beast's Battle Manica and equip it to my Equeste making it impervious to destruction!" He proclaimed as the winged centaur gained a new piece of armor to its empty arm. "Turn over!"

"Oh my move then?" Okita inquired but drew anyway. "I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to activate my lovely friend's facedown." He waved his hand and a card rose up, showing a tornado on the card. "Twister. It allows me to pay 500 life points so that I might destroy one face up spell or trap...and I chose your battle tactics card." He waved his finger as the piece of armor on the centaur was destroyed along with the card.

 _ **Will & Okita:3500**_

 _ **Takanabi & Mashiro:4000**_

"And now I summon my monster, Mind Master in attack mode." A kind of robot with a brain in its domed head appeared on the field

Mind Master **(1 ATK/DEF:100/200)**

"Next, I activate the good master's special ability and sacrifice 800 life points to special summon Telekenetic shocker, in attack mode." A man in a red and yellow suit appeared on the field next to the robot, lightning coming out of his palms.

Telekenetic shocker **(4 ATK/DEF:1700/700)**

 _ **Will & Okita:2700**_

 _ **Takanabi & Mashiro:4000**_

"And now, my master shall tune my shocker to summon the lovely, Magical android." Okita smiled with a bow as mind master exploded into a green ring that went around Telekenetic shocker, light blinded them for a moment before a metal woman with a staff appeared on the field.

Magical Android **(5 ATK/DEF:2400/1700)**

"Now, go ahead and destroy Gladiator beast Andal." The android lifted her staff and fired a bolt of yellow energy at the bear.

 _ **Will & Okita:2700**_

 _ **Takanabi & Mashiro: 3500**_

"And that lady, and gentlemen, is the end of my turn." Okita smiled. "Oh by the way, Magical android restores our life points by 600 for each psychic type on the field." The android glowed, the glow also forming around the movement members.

 _ **Will & Okita:3300**_

 _ **Takanabi & Mashiro: 3500**_

Takanabi merely grunted before drawing his card.

"I'll start my turn by summoning to the field Gladiator Beast Bestiari in attack mode!" Takanabi declared as a green bird like creature in armor appeared on the field

Gladiator beast Bestiari **(4 ATK/DEF:1500/800)**

"But he won't be around for long because I'm sending both him and Gladiator Beast Equeste to the deck to activate a Contact Fusion!"

The starting to glow, two Gladiator Beasts took to the air meeting in the middle were the light dwindled to reveal a monster similar to Bestiari but more armored and buffed up.

Gladiator Beast Gyzarus **(6 ATK/DEF2400/1500).**

"Say hello to Gladiator Beast Gyzarus and while you're at it, goodbye to your Android! For when summoned, Gyzarus can destroy up to two cards on the field!" Takanabi explained pointing at the Psychic Duelists' monster. It shattered into pixels with both duelists remaining impassive.

"With your field once again clear, I'll now have Gyzarus attack your life points directly!" Takanabi ordered waving an arm at his monster who charged forwards talons bared, landing a slash on Will.

 _ **Will & Okita:900**_

 _ **Takanabi & Mashiro: 3500**_

"Before I end my turn, because, Gyzarus is a Contact Fusion, I now have to return him to my extra deck but in his place summon two Gladiator Beasts- like these two!" Takanabi smirked recalling the bird like warrior and summoning a humanoid rhino and humanoid tiger to the field. "And when called out this way, they get a boost to their defense and offense respectively."

Gladiator beast Hoplomus ( **4 ATK/DEF:700/2100-700/2400)**

Gladiator Beast Laquari **(4 ATK/DEF/1800/400-2100/400)**

"Your move."

From the sidelines, Lazar grinned evilly as he saw the corner his lackeys had backed the little mice into. He might not have been a fortune teller during his youth but he could clearly see a fat bonus from the Director when he brought him several members of the mysterious Arcadia Movement plus the fourth Signer.

"My move..." Will sounded without emotion as she drew her card. "And I activate the spell, brain control, by paying 800 life points I can take control of one of your monsters and I chose Hoplomus." A brain appeared on the field and sprouted a pair of hands, grabbing the rhino by the horns and dragging it to their side of the field.

 _ **Will & Okita:100**_

 _ **Takanabi & Mashiro: 3500**_

"And now I summon Genex controller in attack mode." A sort of... Robot appeared on the field. Blinking lights making up its metal face as it looked rather rusted.

Genex Controller **(3 ATK/DEF:1400/1200)**

"And now I'll have the controller tune your beast to synchro summon..." Genex controller burst into three rings that circled the beast before it glowed...And a woman with a robotic arm, and blue body suit appeared on the field. "Psychic lifetrancer."

Psychic lifetrancer **(7 ATK/DEF:2400/2000)**

"Then I activate the spells, fissure, and psychic sword." A sword with bright glowing energy appeared in the woman's robotic arm. "Fissure destroys the monster with the lowest ATK on your field and since there's only one..." The remaining monster fell into a large fissure. "And psychic sword, when our life points are lower then yours, the difference is given to our lifetrancer as ATK points." The sword in the woman's hand grew to incredible size...

Psychic lifetrancer **(7 ATK/DEF:2400/2000-4400/2300)**

"Thanks for playing gentleman, be glad that my friend's psychic powers are weak or you both would be in the hospital." Okita smiled with a bow as Will raised her hand. The woman flew up into the air as it raised the large brightly glowing sword and slammed it down on the two suited men.

 _ **Will & Okita: 100**_

 _ **Takanabi & Mashiro: 0**_

"Oh my!" Lazar exclaimed as his men staggered back a few steps back all three of them shielding their eyes as the light of the attack filled the room. A moment passed and the light faded, leaving two disoriented guards and one annoyed Lazar, who glared daggers at the three movement members. His eye twitched when Liquid stuck his tongue out at him childishly.

"Well, well, well...looks like they escaped." With the whole duel his true targets escaped and he would get nothing and nowhere with these grunts. "Come, let's fall back for now." He then walked back into the elevator, not even needing to look back to know the guards followed.

"Looks like this is all we're gettin' done today." Liquid sighed with a smile clearly happy with the memory of flabbergasted surprise on that clown man's face. "But man it was worth it."

"I do not agree, the plan was a failure so the movement-" Will started tonelessly.

"Geeze, Lighten up will ya, Will? I meant the duel!"

"That aside, we likely won't be getting any more orders today." Okita cut in seamlessly. Having a smile at the contrast the two members showed in personality. "It wouldn't be prudent to waste our time and energy on unnecessary things." With that said, he then started walking towards the exit, knowing the two would follow.

"Come on Will lets split. Being here is a waste of time so let's go home." Liquid grinned, patting her on the back in a friendly manner before walking after Okita.

As Will moved to follow, a hand clamped down on her shoulder nearly making her jump out of her skin before turning to see a black haired woman. Large, swirling round framed glasses giving her a rather nerdish look with an orange vest, striped shirt, and blue jeans.

"Hey! You're the duelist from the Arcadia movement right? I'm Carly Carmine, journalist." The woman sounded with a grin as she put her hands on her shoulders and spun her around to face her fully to look her over better. "I want you to tell me everything you know about the movement, spare no details!"

"No." Will answered simply placing her hands on Carly's wrists and forcibly removing her hands from her shoulders.

"Damn...I thought you might be a tough nut to crack..." Carly put a hand to her chin in thought. But she wasn't a journalist for nothing, she never gives up when she smells a scoop..."I know! If I beat you in a duel, you have to promise to answer all the questions I might ask!" She gained her grin again after seeing the duel disc strapped onto the orangette's arm.

Before Will could even begin to say anything the whole stadium shook with a loud, beastly roar. Making the (Possibly self-proclaimed) journalist nearly jump out of her skin and whirl around to face the elevator to the stadium. "Oh my god! Has the championship match already started?! More importantly what was that sound just now!? Ooh I smell a scoop! I've got to get to the stadium _pronto_!" That being said she raced towards the elevator and forgot all about the small fish for the big fish as the case may be, rapidly pressing the button for the top floor after she got inside the metal contraption.

Will hesitated a second before curiosity filled her empty eyes at that moment, she raced into the elevator just as the doors were closing. Narrowly making it as the doors shut behind her.

* * *

"What is that!? Who...who summoned that _giant_ dragon!" Carly's statement was a pale discription of the giant, red beast that now flew over the stadium. Flooding everything with its light and splendor as it gave out another monstrous roar. "I've got to get an interview ASAP!" The journalist ran down the stairs to the stadium as Will got her first look at the impressive sight...

And then...her whole world exploded with pain...

* * *

 **Grey: Alright, nother cookie for the oven...**

 **Free: ...I don't think that saying is actually...well a saying Grey.**

 **Grey: Who cares?! We just had our first duel on paper...or text as the case may be. Kudos to Free for taking the time to replace the crappy goon decks.**

 **Free: 'Twas a little thing there. Gladiator Beast archtype is kind of a guard dog deck anyway.**

 **Grey: Fair enough, anyway read, review, and don't forget to give that favorite's button a little love. See ya next chapter.**


	3. Calming the Black Rose!

**Grey: Alright we're on a roll here! Hopefully we can get to-**

 **Free: Shh, no spoilers. You of all people should know that.**

 **Grey: Ah...right my bad.**

 **Free: Neither of us own anything of the Yugioh! franchise...except maybe a few games of it.**

 **Grey: And about two card collector books full of cards.**

 **Free: Really?**

 **Grey: Yup, from way back when the series started.**

 **Free: Just keep mine in a shoe box. Easier**

* * *

 _"Looks like it was a breeze for the two of you huh?" The surroundings were hazy and disorientating...Two men standing in front of her. But their faces were blurred, the rest of them the same way. But they felt...warm...and familiar to her..._

 _"Yeah I guess it was. I mean we are great friends after all, aren't we Will?" She felt...happy...She knew these people but...but how-_

 ** _Will? Will wake up._**

 _At that everything started to fade, even as she reached out to the two blurred men desperately. As if to try and keep them with her...the last thing she saw was a red mark glowing on her left arm that she had stretched out._

* * *

"Come on Will wake up already..." Liquid's voice reached her first, the hands shaking her were the second thing she noticed. The sandy blond's annoyed face swam into view as she blinked her bright orange eyes open. "Finally, I thought you'd never wake up, come on. Rise and shine!" He grabbed her hands in his larger ones and hauled her off the rather comfortable couch. Making absolutely sure she was steady on her feet before letting go. "After you staggered in here, just flopped on the couch and fell asleep yesterday we were kinda worried..."

"I'm fine..." Will sounded simply as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. The dream she had already fading from her mind...

"If you say so." Liquid still looked concerned before shrugging. "If that's what you're like after your first mission I fear for your future robot girl..."

"Oh ignore him, you did tremendously well during the mission." Okita smiled as he was sifting through his deck to check his cards one by one. "By the way, Will, you're starting your training again today correct?"

"That is correct."

"Well then have fun, after you finish your training today, you both start your death trap training tomorrow..." Okita waved.

"It's duel runners Okita. And they're the coolest thing ever!" Liquid gushed like an excited, five year old boy at Christmas as he rubbed his hands together in excitement.

"To you. To me, they're a one way ticket to the hospital." Okita sounded simply with a frown as he pushed his glasses up. "Anyway, have fun." Will nodded before leaving the room.

* * *

After a few hours in the second building with the instructors, Will was walking back into the main building and into the elevator. Pressing the button for hers, Okita, and Liquid's floor...

"Hold the elevator." Was the simple command that Will obeyed without question. Pressing the open door button on the console and waiting for the leader of the Arcadia movement to enter the contraption. "Thank you, even now elevators are too slow for my liking." Sayer smiled at the orangette, who nodded dutifully, listening to his every word. "Now then..." He pressed a few buttons before the elevator...went down to the duel halls under the building.

"Sir?" Will asked, empty eyes showing some confusion at his action.

"Don't worry Will, I only need to borrow you for a bit longer." Sayer smiled at her as he placed his hand at the middle of her back and lead her with him as they reached the right floor.

They walked for a bit past...what looked to be a green haired boy standing across from another teen who had black hair and a rather rough look to him. Both of them appeared to be in the middle of a duel yet were wearing metal caps on their heads for some strange reason.

"A couple of new…recruits I suppose you could call them." Sayer explained as he guided Will passed them to another doorway and leading her through.

It did not stop Will from glancing over her shoulder to watch as the green haired boy attacked with what looked to be a dragon made up of appliances found in a tool shed. Sadly, the dragon failed to hit the teen's mecha monster which then wiped out the dragon with a single shot of its double barrel beam rifle causing the greenette's helmet to suddenly light up like a Christmas tree. The scream the boy let out when his monster was destroyed stirred something within Will that she could not quite understand being too cut off from her emotions.

"Sometimes things need to be given a little…coercion shall we say in order to be achieved." Sayer told Will as the door closed cutting off the boy's cry.

Tearing her gaze away from the closed door, Will was greeted to the sight of the beautiful Black Rose Dragon tear apart The Fiend Megacyber along with the duelling dummy Akiza Izinski's was facing off against. From the look of things, she had been here for some time if the discarded dummies in the corner were anything to go by.

"I see you are still shaken from yesterday, Akiza." Sayer called out to his fragile flower catching her attention.

"S-Sayer!" The girl stuttered her grim look morphing into one of an embarrassed girl with her hand caught in the cookie jar. "I-I was just-"

"It's okay. I understand what you were doing." Sayer assured her gently stepping up to the troubled girl and placing his hands on her shoulders. "While I admire you for getting back on your feet to help our cause, a dummy can only do so much to help you get back on your feet. Which is why I brought Will here with me."

Realizing what was to become of her, Will walked over to the other side of the room ignoring the recently wrecked dummy lying beside her.

"You're going to duel against Will but I don't want you to overdo yourself, okay? You're not in perfect condition right now" Sayer told Akiza taking her chin in one hand and lifting her face so that she was now looking him square in the eyes. "If you wish to get revenge against Yusei Fudo and everyone else who are against our kind, you need to start off easy."

It may have sounded like caring advice to an outsider, but Sayer was more hoping Akiza would treat Will as the Satellite's stand in so that when the new King of Duelling made a house call for his little flower, and Sayer knew he would at some point, Akiza would turn a deaf ear to his words and soundly defeat him allowing Sayer to brainwash him in his weakened state. If things worked out, he would have another Signer under his control and Goodwin would be powerless to get him back.

Akiza was only half listening to his words. The moment the name Yusei Fudo slipped from Sayer's lips, she suddenly felt herself feeling conflicted as if part of her wished for the man from Satellite to free her from loneliness while the other wanted nothing more than to remove him from existence for inflicting more pain on her damaged heart. It was reminding her of how she had felt before Sayer had saved her from doing something she was certain she would now have regretted looking back on things now.

Conflicted as she was, Akiza knew she could do nothing about these matters unless she was back at her best.

"As you wish, Sayer." Akiza said earning grateful smile from Sayer as he stepped away from her to the far side of the room where he would be mostly safe from the battle that was about to take place allowing Akiza to lay eyes on her opponent for the match. "So you're my opponent. You must be tired of training. Thanks for agreeing to duel with me"

Her words were sincere. But then to her, Will was just another promising rookie like herself and it was imperative that she at least made sure to boost the rookie's morale and confidence even if she was about to show her what a real psychic duelist could achieve when applying their power properly.

"Akiza, there's no need for small talk." Sayer called out to her. "Will is doing this for your benefit not her own"

As if his words held magical properties, Akiza's features and personality morphed into the cold façade of the Black Rose.

"Very well. Let's duel!" She called out sternly readying her personal duel disk.

"Yes mam." Will sounded simply and to the point as she extended her own generic disc.

 _ **Will:4000**_

 _ **Akiza:4000**_

"I'll go first. I'll summon Telekentic Shocker in attack mode." Will started up after drawing her sixth card. "And then I'll place two facedowns and end my turn." The man in the Red and yellow body suit appeared on the field with a burst of lightning.

Telekentic Shocker **(4 ATK/DEF:1700/700)**

"It's my move and I'll start by summoning Lonefire Blossom to the field!" Akiza declared loudly placing her sixth card into her hand then slapping a different card onto her disk calling forth a small orange-red plant bulb.

Lonefire Blossom **(3 ATK/DEF:500/1400)**

"Next, I'll activate its ability: by sacrificing a plant type on my field, I can special summon from my deck another monster- like my Gigaplant, for example!"

Like a flower blooming in fast forward, Lonefire Blossom began to glow brightly before suddenly growing at a rapid pace transforming from an innocent sprout into a monstrous creature that looked capable of swallowing Will's monster whole.

Gigaplant **(6 ATK/DEF:2400/1200)**

"...A very formidable combo..." Will complimented but her face showed no signs of changing from its neutrality.

"If you think it's impressive now, then you're in for a shock later on. For now, I'll attack your monster with Gigaplant!" Akiza declared ordering her monster to charge.

Like a wave, the huge mass of plant life pulled back slightly before charging straight at Will's shocker that could only shouted out before it was bit by the plant and turned into an explosion of pixels...however the shards struck at Will, inflicting some very real cuts on her arms

 _ **Will:3300**_

 _ **Akiza:4000**_

"I'll place three cards face down and end my turn." Akiza finished placing three cards into her disk.

It was like having Sayer watch her duel was spurring her on, pushing her to exceed her limits and prove that she was the woman he believed her to be.

Will lowered her arms that she used to shield her face before she drew a card. "My move." She looked at her hand for a moment. "I summon Genex Neutron in attack mode." A man shaped machine flew out from a burst of light, flexing long metal fingers.

Genex Neutron **(4 ATK/DEF:1800/1200)**

"And then I activate the spell card Back to Square One from my hand." Will placed a card in the slot and a card rose up. "Which sends your Gigaplant back to the top of your deck." Hands came out of the card and flicked the plant, it turning into a ball of light that went back into Akiza's deck."And now Genex Neutron can attack you directly." A beam charged up in the machine's hands.

Akiza could only glare at Will as the attack of Genex Neutron washed over her too angry at the rookie for ruining her combo to realise that the attack was nothing but virtual light when she felt nothing from it.

 _ **Akiza: 2200**_

 _ **Will:3300**_

"I end my turn, and due to genex's effect, I can add one machine type from my deck to my hand." Genex Neutron glowed before she took a card out of her deck before the duel disk automatically shuffled the deck.

For Will, this was nothing more than a mission. But she felt something...stir inside her. If she wasn't so disconnected from emotion, she would figure out what it was. But right now, she focused on the duel and ignored the pain of her cuts.

"My turn!" Akiza growled drawing Gigaplant to her hand. "And I think I'll return the favor by emptying the field of your monster with the help of my spell card Mark of the Rose! By banishing my Lonefire Blossom from the graveyard, I can take control of one monster you control and since your Genex is the only monster you have, I'll be taking him from you!"

On Will's side of the field, a tattoo of a black rose suddenly etched itself onto Genex Neutron along with a hypnotic blue aura surrounding the monster.

"Now, Genex Neutron, come to me!" Akiza ordered. The monster obediently floated over to her side of the field to kneel before her with a long fingered hand to his metal chest as if she was a queen. Will still not showed any emotion on her face at her monster being stolen from her.

"To thank Genex for its loyalty, I'll give it the honor of being the tribute to return Gigaplant to the field and have it attack your life points directly!" Watching as her freshly summoned plant monster made for Will, Akiza felt a cruel sense of satisfaction wash over her as she returned the favor the rookie had done to her last turn not realising she was putting more of her ESPer abilities into the attack something Sayer was quick to notice when he sensed the psychokinectic waves coming from his flower surprising and shocking him slightly.

"She's too emotionally conflicted! The inhibitor device can't properly control the flux!" He cursed quietly wanting a gullible pawn not an out of control doll that would do more damage than good.

"I activate my face down, Threatening Roar! Stopping your attack in its tracks and ending the battle phase!" Will sounded strongly as the card rose up with a sweep of her arm. Soundwaves emitted from the card and forced the monster back to its space. "...You should calm down a bit." The words flowed out of her mouth so naturally she almost didn't realize it was her saying them. "It's just you and me in this duel." Her focus was entirely on Akiza, not even registering Sayers presence anymore. She felt that's how it should be in a duel...Nothing else mattered but the opponent across from you.

Akiza winced like she had been slapped by her own monster. She was supposed to be the one setting the example for the rookie yet it felt more like the roles were reversed and she was the one being taught a lesson. Part of her felt ashamed for nearly flying off the handle but part of her was still irritated by Will as if dueling her was reminding her of the man who had defeated her the other day.

"Turn over..." The Black Rose finally replied her words sounding forced and restrained.

Sayer could not help but be impressed although he made sure he did not look it. Usually, it was only himself who could tame the Black Rose when she went on a temper tantrum rampage. It looked like his diamond in the rough had just found herself the perfect role to play while not on missions for him...

Will...gave a slight smile as she drew before it went back to her neutral look. "I activate the spell card brain control to bring your Gigaplant to my side of the field." A brain rose up from the field, hands grabbing the plant and dragging it over. "The cost of 800 life points is definitely worth the gain..."

 _ **Akiza:3300**_

 _ **Will: 2500**_

"And what goes around comes around as they say, I tribute your plant in order to summon Mobius, the frost monarch!" Will called as the plant froze...then shattered reforming into a large knight with a blue flowing cape and a beak like helmet.

Mobius, the Frost Monarch **(6 ATK/DEF:2400/1000)**

"Now, give Miss Akiza the cold shoulder!" The Monarch roared as it made a sword of ice and charged at the black rose.

"I activate my face down card Call of the Haunted and chain it to my Overdoom Line!" Akiza smirked pressing buttons on her duel disk to activate two of three cards in her spell and trap zone. "This allows me to revive Gigaplant and, thanks to Overdoom Line, give it a thousand extra attack points!"

From the castle portrayed in the purple framed card, the familiar plant monster appeared once more although much larger due to the effect of the other face up card on Akiza's field.

Gigaplant **(6 ATK/DEF: 2400/1200|3400/1200)**

"It's time for Winter to make way for the Spring thaw! Gigaplant, shatter her Monarch!" Akiza ordered.

Will's eyes widened as her monarch slammed against the plant and shattered into a thousand pieces barely managing to raise her arms in time to protect herself from the shrapnel flung her way from the explosion.

 _ **Akiza:3300**_

 _ **Will:1500**_

Will lowered her arms, she could feel the pain from her injuries but wasn't going to back down. "I place two face downs and end my turn..." Two cards appeared before disappearing.

"It's my move!" Akiza growled her temper getting the better of her after Will's continuous attempts to remove Gigaplant from the field.

Whoever gave the rookie that deck, obviously thought nothing of a theme other than to rob the field of monsters not your own then attack the opponent. She did not know why but she wanted to fight Will when she used her deck just she was using the one- NO! That man cared little for her, too busy caring for his job than his daughter and believed giving her a unique, tailored deck would keep her preoccupied enough. She would show him some day, but today, she would be showing Will that a deck not of their own creation was not a deck one could properly win with.

"I summon to the field Twilight Rose Knight and use his ability to summon Lord Poison from my hand!" Akiza said as she placed the last two cards in her hand onto her disk while a pale skinned knight in dark armor and a strange creature with thorn-like claws appeared in front of her.

Twilight Rose Knight **(3 ATK/DEF:1000/1000)**

Lord Poison **(4 ATK/DEF:1500/1000)**

"You're...planning on summoning Black rose dragon." Will stated like fact as she saw the strategy she was beginning to employ. It seems like she angered the black rose somehow, and she was planning on getting back at her tenfold...

"Not just yet. First, I activate my face down card, Plant Food Chain and while it gives a plant monster like my Gigaplant five hundred extra attack points, it has another effect you'll soon be witnessing" Akiza promised darkly. "Now, I tune my Twilight Rose Knight with my Lord Poison to Synchro Summon my Black Rose Dragon! Bloom into existence!"

Watching as her warrior transformed into three green rings and encircle her level four plant monster, Akiza could not help but feel more at ease as the sudden pillar of light faded to reveal her favorite monster.

Black Rose Dragon **(7 ATK/DEF:2400/1800)**

"And now, Black Rose Dragon's effect takes place and all cards on the field, mine and yours, are destroyed and sent to the graveyard! Black Rose Dragon, clear the field with Black Rose Gale!"

With a sorrowful roar, Black Rose Dragon transformed into into a great torrent of rose colored petals ready to cut everything to the quick be it solid light or flesh and blood.

Will's eyes widened as she felt her feet leave the solid ground with the gale. The petals cut her skin and her cards were sent flying into the air as she was slammed back against the far wall behind her brutally. Giving out a yell of pain as all air was forced from her lungs at the hard force before the gale stopped. Gravity taking over and forcing her to fall against the ground harshly, her cards fluttering to the ground around her as the holograms flickered off from the malfunction.

The sight of Will's body collapsing against the wall snapped Akiza from her trance. She had not meant to go full out yet still managed to go overkill and hurt someone with her powers alienating herself even further within the place she had called home.

"I'm sorry! I never meant to do that!" She apologised profusely as she made to run over to where the rookie lay only for Sayer to intervene.

"Calm down, Akiza. You're still recovering so full control over your powers right now would have been a surprise." Sayer assured her.

Even Sayer was taken back by the force of Akiza's power. He was fully aware that she could not yet completely harness her power but that display just now warned him that, unless he could properly get her to harness her power, he may very well have to induce the same treatment the subject was under. Speaking of whom...

"I am fine..." Said subject called in a strained tone as she was standing, unsteady, but standing as she held her gut. Cuts littered her arms and legs with one on her cheek...The worst damage seemed to be done to her duel disc. Which was cracked all around the face with the fin jutting out being broken completely in half. It was safe to say the duel won't be continuing.

"See? She'll be fine with a few bandages and a day's rest. Isn't that right Will?" Sayer smiled, hiding his surprise at the sight of his diamond in the rough being up so quickly after that thrashing. Say what you want about the satelight, but it made some durable people.

"Yes, none of my injuries are life threatening Miss Akiza." Will limped over to the two, ignoring the pain shooting through her back(Which she was certain would be bruised) with each step as she reached the black rose. She felt something...guiding her to do this, the words coming out almost on instinct... hands gently resting over shaking ones. "Thank you for the duel."

Akiza's hands slowly stopped shaking as Will gave them a comforting squeeze. Her throat felt tight...No one had ever, ever thanked her, the Black Rose for a duel in her life. And she sounded so sincere. It took everything she had not to break down right then and give in to her emotions.

"Y...your welcome." Akiza smiled widely, pushing down the urge to cry her eyes out in happiness. Dare she believe that she may have just found a true friend. "And please, call me Akiza."

Sayer watched the interaction with an appraising gaze before gaining a slow smirk since no one's attention was on him at the moment. Well well well...The diamond and his little rose seemed to have befriended each other. This could work well in his favor, with Will helping to keep her emotions in check and Will's full attention being focused on Akiza, the hold he has on them both would only strengthen in time.

"I'd hate to spoil the moment Akiza, but Will still needs a checkup and you need to rest up." Sayer cut in as he schooled his expression back to normal. Placing his hands over the girls shoulders. "Using your powers over and over must be very exhausting. So head up to your room and I'll take Will to go see Seria." The woman would be able to see if the brainwashing was weakening as well.

"Yes Sayer." A considerably happier Akiza smiled sincerely at him, giving Will's hands a final squeeze before walking off through a side door.

* * *

Seria, the right hand to the man who founded the Arcadia Movement, had seen much since joining and kept her mouth shut about the dark, unspeakable things both witnessed and aided albeit willingly at first for the betterment of psychics everywhere. Right now, she was currently tending to Will in the infirmary after the poor child had the misfortune of being the recipient of Miss Akiza during one of her…temper tantrums to put it mildly.

"You might want to refrain from sleeping on your back for a few days Will." Seria gently advised as her hands softy placing bandages all along the orangette's left arm, having just finished with the right after seeing the blackening bruise the size of a melon on her back after she took off the top of her uniform. Leaving her upper half clad in a white sports bra.

"Understood." Will replied almost robotically and Seria couldn't help but flinch at the emotionless tone in her voice. Memories filling her head of another promising recruit, so young...he was so young...And yet they-NO! She would give up anything for psychics even if it meant going to hell for what she had done. What she helped do.

Seria, one of the first member of the Arcadia Movement, was not sure that her flimsy resolve would last much just hoped that she wouldn't have to witness anymore suffering, from anymore children. She didn't think she could take it if...if...this subject ended up like the others. Buried in the darkness of the movement to never be heard from again...

* * *

 **Grey: ...I think I nearly shed a tear writing this.**

 **Free: Tissue? _(Holds one out)_**

 **Grey: Thank you... _(Takes the tissue and blows her nose wetly into it...then handed it back to free)_**

 **Free:...(Looks at the soggy tissue for a moment before tossing it over his shoulder) Alright, read, review, and don't forget to favorite or follow.**


	4. Blast from the past!

**Disclaimer's on chapter-**

 **Grey: Uh, Free, I know you're helping and all but this fic is kinda under my penname.**

 **Free: So? Never really saw the point of pointless banter. No one's gonna read this bit.**

 **Grey: But it's fun to do. Are you upset that your OC hasn't made a proper debut yet?**

 **Free: Neither of us own Yugioh!, people, so just ignore the bold and go right to the story.**

 **Grey: Hey, Free! Where you going? Free!**

* * *

 _Will did not know what she was staring at but whatever it was, it was filling her heart with what she assumed was happiness and joy for some reason. What she did know was that she was in a rundown garage with the same two teens as last time who had just unveiled a sleek looking vehicle which, apparently, was for her._

 _"So what do you think?" The dark haired teen asked as he patted the motorcycle looking contraption. "I know it's the first prototype and all, but I figured you'd want to be the one to shut Crow up."_

 _"Wait a minute! Are you saying that cobbled contraption can keep up with my Blackbird?!" The orange haired teen apparently named Crow remarked heatedly. Since it looked like it was made from spare parts and junk just laying around._

 _"If he tuned it, it'll do it." Will replied confidently the words coming from her mouth as easily as one would breath._

 _"Oh, is that so? Care to put your cards where your mouth is?" Crow challenged stepping up to Will the look in his eyes daring her to back down._

 _"I think the real question, Beaky, is what you'd prefer kissing: me or the gravel?" Will teased Crow and soon it was not just the teen's hair that was a bright color._

* * *

A sharp jolt of pain in her lower back had Will wincing as she returned from the land of dreams. Guess she really should have listened to Seria when she told her not to sleep on her back for a while. At least the sofa she was using in the room she was sharing with Okita and Liquid was comfy although the strange dreams she was having marred any peaceful slumber.

Those two teenagers from her dreams. Will was not really sure but, for some strange reason, she felt like she had known them at some point during her life but for the life in her she had no clue as to where and when she had met them and it irritated her in some way.

"Ah good. You're awake." Liquid's droning voice sounded from the other side of the room. "Was beginning to think me and Okita would be getting the chance to try using our powers to wake you up."

"Don't mind Liquid. He's just excited about your lesson today on how to kill one's self." Okita called out from where he sat crossed legged on his bed his deck disassembled and scattered across the sheets as he cheerfully set about trying to update it.

Will remained nonplussed as she stood up wincing slightly as her bruised back rubbed against her uniform top. Apparently today was the day she was to start her duel runner training along with the rest of her roommates sans Okita who seemed to prefer duelling on two feet rather than two wheels.

"What's wrong with riding duel runners, Okita? All the best duelists ride them. If we get good enough, we might be given our own!" Liquid pointed out his usual gloomy voice now full of the excitement Will was sure someone half his age would be better fitting.

"Of course… that is assuming you don't take a turn wrong and wind up looking like a modern day Picasso on concrete." Okita replied pausing to push his glasses up his nose.

"You're a sadist, you know that?" Liquid muttered after a pregnant pause turning his back on Okita.

"My apologies. I did not mean to dissuade you from your dreams." Okita smiled.

"Whatever." Liquid muttered turning to look at Will. "Shall we get going? The quicker we're there, the longer they might let us ride about." He offered his arm in a mock show of gentlemanly manners. Will almost gained a smile as she was reminded of that Crow boy in her dreams when Liquid gave her a cheeky grin. But she didn't dwell on it and humoured him, taking his arm and allowing him to lead her out with the distant sound of Okita's chuckles behind them.

* * *

"-squeeze the clutch on the handle, _then_ switch gears using the pedal. And remember, the breaks are your friend, any questions?" Their duel runner instructor, Kawasaki, sounded waiting for any aforementioned questions as he stood next to a sleek two wheeled vehicle Will learned was a duel runner.

They had obviously moved this part of the training to the streets of New Domino, as the headquarters did not have, nor need a racetrack. As well as the basics, Kawasaki had also given Will and Liquid a brief rundown of the types of runners along with their key qualities. The one, they would be riding was what most riders referred to as a 'T-wheel' as in training duel runner due to its balance of both speed, power and handling unlike the other types which focused on one aspect in particular.

"Just one: Can I go first?" Liquid held up his hand like a school child as he bounced on his heels with restrained excitement.

"You know, normally its ladies first." Kawasaki smirked slightly at the boy's obvious excitement.

"I don't mind." Will sounded robotically despite, when she first laid eyes on that runner, wanting to just get out there and drive. She had no idea why but just looking at it invoked feelings of what she guessed to be happiness.

"Alright, no skin off my nose. But put this on if you want to _keep_ some skin." Kawasaki handed Liquid what looked to be a slate grey leather jacket, pants, and dark brown boots and gloves all padded so that there would be extra protection in case of a crash, in lieu of the metal that would protect you in a car. "You can change over in those bathrooms." He waved over near the left side of the gates where a convince store the Movement 'commandeered' for their exercises.

Liquid gained an ecstatic grin as he stole the riding suit from Kawasaki's hand and tore into the store past two other Movement members.

"And you'll have to tie your hair back or braid it. Here, turn round." Will paused for a second before turning her back to the green haired instructor soon feeling deft hands put her dark orange hair into a simple braid clearly having done this before.

"...Do you have children?" Will asked out of the blue. The feeling of him braiding her hair was familiar, but to her irritation she couldn't put her finger on it

"Two. Why?" Kawasaki blinked at the odd question before stepping back after he tied the braid.

Will opened her mouth to answer only to see Liquid jogging back to where she and Kawasaki were dressed in the slate grey riding suit. Almost impatiently, the sandy haired boy eagerly hopped onto the runner and prepared to take off-

"Hold it." Kawasaki sounded sternly before he handed Liquid a black motorcycle helmet. "Put this on if you don't want your brains scrambled."

"Ah, right." Liquid sounded sheepishly before taking the helmet and slipping it on his head. Sliding the clear visor down over his eyes with a hand, Liquid stared at the fiendish red light that was holding him back, revving the engines and feeling his adrenaline flow with the roar the metallic beast made. When the lights finally turned green, his dream became a reality and a blend of fear and excitement tore through him like the duel runner through the asphalt.

* * *

"Man that was harder than I thought..." Liquid muttered sourly, but still rather happy as he walked the bike back to the gate. His legs felt like jelly from all the vibrations that the engine made combined with the lack of adrenaline in his veins.

"You alright?" Will asked having suited up while Liquid had done his run and had spent the last few seconds flexing her right hand to make sure that the glove was fitted properly.

"Yeah, but watch out for those obstacles, they can be a real pain if you hit them." Liquid sighed as he turned the runner so that it was facing the road again. "But man it was awesome! Like a pure rush of adrenaline just shooting through you with each turn."

Will merely listened as she slipped on her helmet quashing her nostalgia and other unnecessary emotions into a random corner of her mind for later times. Right now, she had to focus on not becoming, what had Okita called it? A Concrete Picasso?

"Good luck." Liquid called to her as she stepped up to the bike.

Will nodded before mirroring Liquid's movements from earlier and mounted the bike, with noticeably more grace than when the other teen tried. With practiced movements, Will revved the engine up and tore off down the track when the lights turned green leaving a stunned Liquid and Kawasaki staring after her as she reached the first bend-

* * *

 _Taking the turn, Will quickly noticed that her surroundings were no longer that of a race track but instead dilapidated buildings like she had gone from one timeline straight into another. Instead of worrying, she instead gave her runner more juice expertly weaving between broken rusting trucks and around potholes big enough to swallow her rider allowing the wind to play with her untamed locks._

 _"Hey, Will! You hungry?" Came a familiar voice as a sleek black duel runner came up alongside her. "Here's a free sample of 'Dust a la Crow!"_

 _With a roar, Crow shot forward with his runner kicking up an impressive cloud of dust clearly meant for her._

 _"Tastes as bland as your jokes, Beaky!" Will called after him as she gunned her runner making it shoot off after the rider._

 _Buildings and scrap hills became blurs as the two riders tore through the remnants of, what Will was beginning to believe to be, their home turf. She knew not the how or why but she just felt, at ease, as if this was all she ever did and enjoyed._

* * *

' _Focus, girl! Daydream later.'_ Will told herself as she came around the last corner of the track to find Liquid staring at her with awe and respect as she pulled in after crossing the line.

"Nice time! Keep that up and you'll be in great shape missy." Kawasaki smiled widely greatly impressed by the prowess of the Orangette as she dismounted with the same grace she showed earlier.

"Thank you." Will said pulling off her helmet and setting it on the handle bars as a uniformed Liquid rushed up to her.

"That was amazing! You didn't ride like an amateur at all! What's your secret!?" Liquid nearly shouted as he took her by the shoulders. In the background Kawasaki started to roll the duel runner away to the storage truck they had on hand.

"...First, let me change."

"Oh, sorry." Liquid coughed as he stepped back to give her space.

* * *

"-Did you ride before? Come on, tell your buddy Liquid." Liquid badgered as soon as she walked out the doors of the store. His arm going around her shoulders in friendly camaraderie.

"No." Will sounded immediately after a short pause undoing her braid and letting her fingers run through her locks as it flowed down her back again.

It was almost like her dreams in the way all the nostalgia she had been feeling began to fade the further they got away from the race track. As if some sort of heavy blanket was being draped over those feelings.

"Yeah, if you had ever ridden one you would've told Okita and me." Liquid nodded to himself at his firm theory. "You must be a natural, come on, let's go rub our unharmed selves in Okita's face-"

"Will? Will is that you!?" A familiar spiky haired man suddenly called out his voice a mix of shock, disbelief, and relief. Yusei Fudo, current riding duel king, ran up to the two movement members His eyes glued to the sight of the orangette he had not seen in nearly two years. To him, she had not changed a bit, if with longer hair then he remembered.

"Wh-" Will tried to say only to stumble backwards when what felt like her mind being split clean in two by the huge dragon she had seen the other day. Voices echoed inside her head each one bringing to the fore of her mind a different face she could not recognise but somehow knew them all the same.

 _"Hey Will! What's shaking!?"_

 _"Sister! You forgot to eat! Don't let it get cold!"_

 _"I'll beat you next time! All I have to do is tune up my blackbird and fly across the finish line!"_

 _"Now if only she could get you to shut up permanently."_

 _"Nice run Will."_

It was like watching multiple channels through the same television simultaneously. Will could vaguely make out several people wearing similar jackets, two of which being the former and current duel kings while a third was definitely crow and a fourth with silver hair. A young girl with spikey blonde hair who apparently saw her as a sister which caused her to lurch forwards suddenly like her heart had just about been ripped from her chest. There were also images of herself duelling against one to even three opponents with she was certain to be her deck-

"Hey Will? Will? You're not looking so hot... Do you know that guy? Will? Can you hear me?" Liquid called out to her bringing the girl from the turmoil within her mind into a dazed state. Even he could notice the engine running but nobody was behind the wheel so to speak from the glazed look in her eyes.

Showing concern, Yusei made to walk over only to stop as a familiar face he had not seen since trying to talk to Akiza at the Fortune Cup blocked his path.

"Well if it isn't Yusei Fudo." Sayer mock exclaimed sounding like he had run into an old friend he had not seen for a while.

Inwardly Sayer was glad he had thought of checking on his diamond in the rough's duel runner training personally. This was a possible disaster in the making if he didn't take the right steps. Said steps being to keep Yusei and the two movement members far apart before any more damage could be done. "Why don't you be a good boy and stay out of my business? Liquid, get her out of here and get her to Seria."

"Will! Are you ok!?" Yusei tried to move toward her, hands outstretched to help her, hug her. But Sayer firmly planted himself in his way with his duel disc at the ready.

"The wellbeing of my members doesn't concern you, Mr. Fudo, and it would be in your best interests to worry more about yourself." Sayer suggested coldly as he drew a card and held it at the ready with powers primed and dangerous.

Liquid still looked concerned as he looked between the equally worried Yusei and the pained Will who could barely walk but decided that Will was more important and shifted her arm across his shoulders so that most of her weight was on him as his arm moved around her waist to keep her steady as they walked away.

"Will?! Will?!" Yusei called fruitlessly before landing his glare onto a smirking Sayer who was flanked by two other movement members. "What's your game Sayer!?"

"Game? No game Mr. Fudo." Sayer assured before walking away with the members following after. "But you could say it's the end game."

"Sayer..." Yusei growled as his leather gloves crinkled when he clenched his fists tightly. ' _What's going on here!?_ '

But now he had one more reason to pay the Arcadia Movement a visit. One was a certain witch, the other, a long lost knight...What irony.

* * *

This was what Seria was dreading, the sight of a pale and unfocused Will in the specialized pod used for examining a psychic's powers and fluctuations as well as monitor their health and mental state. It made her throat tighten uncomfortably with the feelings that she had been pushing down all these years...

"Sir, I'm seeing a decrease in the level of consciousness!" Seria sounded with concern as she tore her attention from the poor child in the pod to look at the monitors all of which were fluctuating wildly as they tried to level the brainwashing more firmly on the duelist's mind. "At this rate the subject will pass out!"

"So the brainwashing is wearing off..." Sayer muttered as he paced the room with annoyance.

He needed the brainwashing program perfected if he were to control Will along with any other unwilling psychics as well as bring out their full potential and insure they were loyal to him and him alone.

"That's right. It appears that the subject experienced a great shock related to a past event." Seria rattled off to keep her attention off Will. "Any repeats are liable to result in total recall."

"Yusei Fudo...Time and time again he keeps getting in my way." Sayer growled. First with his little rose, now with his diamond in the rough..."If he gets any closer to this one, it could spell big trouble for us. Let's strengthen the brainwashing so our subject can better resist these pests from the past!"

"But the brainwave isn't stable. If we push it too far we could endanger the subject's life!" Seria objected. In the state she was in, they risked killing Will outright or making her a vegetable for the rest of her natural life were they to try anything other than letting the poor child rest and recover from her ordeal.

"Hmph. I see..." Sayer paused slightly as he crossed his arms and looked down at the barely conscious Will. "We can't afford to lose such an important asset. Preserving the subject's life takes top priority. We'll have to conduct more brainwashing later."

Seria inwardly sighed in relief at this news. "Yes Sayer." She turned back at the monitor to try and do what she could to make the poor child more comfortable as she swam through her broken memories...

* * *

"Sister...sister wake up!" A familiar voice called in annoyed tone as Will dimly felt small hands shaking her back and forth on her creaky bed...wait, bed? "Don't make me get one of Crow's s-socks..."

"W...what?" At that Will started to wake up, rubbing the side of her head with a gloved hand as she blinked her eyes into focus to see a little blond girl with a black headband sitting on the side of the bed, dressed in a little tan vest, white shirt, and ripped blue jeans with ratty sneakers. She had an annoyed, worried look on her face that melted with a sigh when she saw Will's bright orange eyes open.

"F-finally...luckily I didn't have to get the s-sock." The girl shivered slightly as if the thought was just too sickening to be thought.

"Hey there, sleeping beauty!"

Will blinked more as a smiling Crow walked up with his hands on his hips. "And my socks don't smell that bad!" He pouted at the blond, who stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

"Yes they do. Even the rats don't go near them, why do you think I was stuffing them in the holes?"

"So that's where all of them have been going!"

"Y-you didn't even n-notice?"

"Eh...where am I exactly?" Will scratched the side of her head only to wince when the blond smacked her hand away from a bandage that was on her temple.

"...You're kidding right?" Crow asked in a concerned tone as he put his knee on the bed and placed his hand on her forehead, making her feel her face begin to heat up at his proximity. "Man those Securities must've hit you hard last night..." He then moved back and indicated with his hands to the whole abode-

"This is the so called Barbaric Area after Damage- or the Satellite's B.A.D Area for short. Welcome home."

* * *

 **Grey: DUN DUN DUNNNNN!**

 **...**

 **Grey:...Man it's really lonely in here. Anyway, read, review, favorite, you guys know the drill.**


	5. Infitration and Satisfaction!

**Grey: Comfy Free?**

 **Free:...Still think this is a bit exsessive...(Motioning to the old school ball and chain attached to his ankle.)**

 **Grey: What? No. Noooo.**

 **Free: And illegal.**

 **Grey: Alrighty! Neither of us own anything Yugioh! Related. Have fun reading!**

 **Free: Oi. Don't ignore me...**

* * *

"Anything? Ringing any bells? Are we dinging the dong?" Crow sat on the edge of her bed as she tried to think. "Alright, why don't we start easy, try guessing her name." He motioned to the little girl sitting at the foot of the bed.

"So long as you never say 'dinging the dong' again." Will shuddered.

"I s-second that." The girl added with her own shudder.

"Fine, fine! But it was still funny." Crow huffed as he crossed his arms.

"No it wasn't, Beaky." She huffed before staring hard at the little girl, seeing the light filtering from the window and making her blond hair shine sparked some recognition. "Hikari?"

"Correct! You win my eternal friendship!" Crow sounded theatrically with a wave of his hand.

"S-She already has that..." Hikari giggled at the goofy boy.

"Doesn't mean there can't be more of it." Crow grinned before thumbing to himself. "Now…who am I?" He was a bit worried about that blow to the head she suffered but she seemed to be getting back to normal.

"Crow 'The goof' Hogan" She answered confidently getting another giggle from the little girl.

"T-That's it."

"You guys are mean! And after I let you stay over too!" Crow pouted but he clearly didn't have any hard feelings as he gave a wide grin. "Snarky, crude jokes, and a love for a certain handsome bird: You're Will alright. But there's one last way to prove it." He then went over to one of the boxes on his cluttered shelves, bringing out two old mass production Kaiba Corporation duel disks. "Let's have a duel, unless you're scared that is?"

"I've got three words for ya, birdy: Bring. It. On." Will grinned as she threw off the covers and hopped out of bed finally noticing that she was dressed in the same vest that Crow and Hikari were wearing along with the arm bands on her bare arms, black tank top and blue jeans with brown boots. "My Knights are gonna whoop your sorry-Hey where's my deck!?" She gained an annoyed look as she patted her belt for her deck case that wasn't there.

"Oh that's right, Securities took it from you last night after hitting that empty head of yours." Crow grinned when Will elbowed him. "Alright, alright you can have my spare deck, should be better than those knights you always use." He then searched through his pockets only for his brow to twitch in annoyance at empty pockets. "Those creeps! They took everything but my main deck!"

"T-They took mine too" Hikari sighed.

The air in the hut became distinctly colder. It was bad enough for an adult to have their cards taken from them but to take from a kid was a taboo that only the lowest of the low ever broke. Of course, this was Sector Security so this sort of thing was normal for them but unforgivable nonetheless.

"You better have a plan Crow." Will growled seriously as she put her arm around Hikari's shoulders in comfort.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Crow said as he went back to his cluttered shelves and brought out a familiar slate grey uniform complete with cap and key card that he handed her. "I've only got one, so me and little Kari'll distract the guards. Meet us there after you change!" He leaned down and Hikari eagerly hopped on his back for a piggy back ride as he ran off.

"W-Why didn't you wear the uniform?" Hikari asked as Crow carried her through the dilapidated streets.

"Because it's be suspicious for an officer to be Marked. Not to mention it doesn't fit me." Crow replied slowing down as they reached the alley leading to the front of the Satellite Sector Security building.

"You j-just wanna see her in the u-uniform, don't you?" Kari teased letting out an 'eep' as Crow suddenly dropped her from his back.

"If I wanted to see her in that uniform, I would have just up and said it right to her face- would've gotten a black eye for it but the look on her face would be worth it- not to mention priceless." Crow replied cautiously leaning round the corner to see just a single person guarding the front door to the building.

"And people are wondering why there are so many duel gangs running about." Crow scoffed. These guys were supposed to be keeping the peace yet it was all down to The Enforcers that Satellite was becoming more peaceful. "So, how should we do this: crying child routine or the good old tried and tested mock and make tracks?"

Kari was about to give her reply when a hand on her shoulder caused her to jump and she was not the only one. Without either of them noticing, a Security officer had somehow managed to get the drop on them the cap pulled down so that only his mouth and chin could be seen.

"What's a pair of Satellite's doing skulking around here? You brat's looking for trouble?" The Sector Security officer interrogated gruffly as Crow and Kari backed away.

"Says the guy stalking a pair of unarmed civilians just for kicks!" Crow threw back stepping between the Security officer and Kari before recognising the silhouette. "Wait…Will?!"

Shaking with suppressed laughter, the officer raised their capped head to reveal a widely grinning Will evidently pleased with herself for catching Crow off guard.

"Dammit! You just about gave me some grey hairs, Will!" Crow snarled quietly to not draw attention from any actual Security in the area. "How'd you manage to get all your hair hidden under that cap?"

"How do you get that broom head into a helmet?" Will threw back swatting away Crow's hand as he tried to touch the cap.

"C-Can we move on to the matter at hand, p-please?" Kari interjected not wanting to see the lovebirds flap about with each other while her deck was not within her person and in someone else's hands.

The two duel gang members glanced from the young blonde then back to each other and nodded once. There was a time and a place for fun but now was definitely not the time- especially when a person's deck had been taken from them just because of their status.

"All righty! I'll go and lure away the Security goon at the door and allow Will to slip on through." Crow grinned already making off down the alley towards the target building.

"B-Be careful!" Kari called after him.

"Kari, if Crow was careful, he wouldn't be the featherhead we know and love." Will pointed out with a smirk as the two girls hid from view.

"He would have l-less Markings if he did. And I don't l-love him." Kari added in a hasty whisper as the sounds of footsteps and furious voices reached their ears.

Seconds later, Crow sped passed their hiding spot like a bullet followed closely by Sector Securities finest who was already red faced from running and the insults Crow threw at him as he continued to evade him.

"And now for my turn in the spotlight." Will grinned after cautiously coming out of hiding and turning to her little sister. "Keep an eye out for any goons until I get inside then go back to our shack. I'll see you back there."

"Please b-be careful, sister." Kari almost begged.

"I'll be back before you know it." Will promised giving the petite blonde a quick hug before walking up to the Sector Securities outpost entrance like was merely going to work.

A quick swipe of the card key Crow had supplied for her and Will, after a quick thumbs up to Kari, slipped inside.

* * *

The corridors were surprisingly quiet Will noticed as she walked along with only the odd Security member crossing her path as she made her way to the room where all confiscated cards were kept. Evidently, she had been here several times before now as her feet took her on what felt like a familiar path.

Sadly, the door to the room in question had a couple of Securities standing guard in front of it. It looked like even the dumbest of dogs eventually learned that a parked car was going nowhere soon. But that did not mean that her little foray into enemy territory was over and had to return empty handed.

Now, if her faded memory served correctly…

"Hey!" She called out in a low voice to the Security goon. "Could you come give us a hand? Some noob's gone and gotten himself stuck in the darn lift."

"Another one already? Man, my money was on next week." The Security sighed in frustration. "Better get him outta there quick before the Chief hears about it."

Waiting patiently until the gullible goon walked round the corner, Will stole a glance both ways before slipping into the room that was chock full of confiscated cards Sector Security had stashed from their raids on the residents of Satellite. With so many drawers practically full to bursting with Duel Monster cards, finding her own deck, let alone her friends', was going to be a tall order to accomplish before the goon realised he had been punked and raised the alarm.

To her own surprise, however, Will closed her eyes and once more let her feet do the walking. With her sense of sight blocked off, her now heightened sense of hearing seemed to pick up on something as if a piece of herself was calling out to her and it was gradually getting louder. Stopping in front of one of the drawers, Will opened the drawer and picked up the first deck case her eyes spotted feeling a cold yet also warm aura envelope her almost like her sister whenever she came back from a successful turf war with her buddies.

"My Knights…" Will muttered taking the deck out of its case and drawing the top card revealing a blue dragon within a white frame. "My dragon…"

Snapping out of her dazed state at the sound of foot prints slowly marching her way, Will stowed away her deck and two others she just knew were Kari and Crows before hightailing it out of the room.

* * *

"Christmas comes early my comrades!" Will called playfully as she came into the ruined building.

"Alright! Come to papa..." Crow came forward first and eagerly took his spare deck back.

Unlike the eager boy, Kari walked towards Will at a more sedated pace but still eagerly took her deck none the less.

"T-Thank you, sister." Kari smiled with relief as she hugged Will around her waist.

"I told you I'd be back. You worry too much." Will grinned cheekily as she swooped down and pressed a quick kiss onto her cheek making the petite girl blush slightly.

"B-Between the three of us, s-someone has to worry." Kari countered looking through her cards with a fondness.

"God Damn it! Of course they had to just shove in random cards..." Crow suddenly exclaimed furiously as he looked through his deck noticing a good different amount of cards that should not be in his spare deck. "Don't tell me I have to build this deck up from scratch again..."

"Hey guys!" His muttering was quickly eclipsed by an excited shout and running feet. A small boy, younger then Kari with brown hair, red shirt, black vest and shorts ran in bouncing on his feet with barely contained energy as he stopped in front of Will. "Come on, Will, let's duel!"

"Great, you guys duel while I fix my deck." Crow waved off dismissively, his attention fully on his cards that he started to lay out on his bed. "Itsuki was all worried about you too: 'Where's Will?' 'Is she ok?' 'Don't you guys think she's been gone too long?' Kept it up for every minute you were gone."

"I-I was not!" Itsuki's ears turned an interesting shade of red.

"Ignore Beaky over there. He's just sour since the securities shoved random cards into his deck." Will smiled gently as she patted the pouting boy's head seeming to mollify the boy's mood.

"You don't mess with a man's deck, woman! Not even his spare one!" Crow snapped defensively making the girls roll their eyes in sync.

"W-Why don't you w-wait outside while Will c-changes, Itsuki?" Kari cut in before Will could make a witty retort that sparked one of their usual rows.

"Kay, she looks kinda scary in that uniform anyway..." The boy shared all of Satellite's distrust of securities. He then ran outside as fast as his small legs could carry him.

"You see scary, I see a glorious-"

"Finish that sentence at your own peril, Beaky!"

* * *

After beating Itsuki and stopping by over at Yusei's to check her duel runner, which she had affectionately called "Junk Wheel". Crow had laughed at the name, but wasn't for long after their last race...

"Yo! What's shaken, Will?" A grinning silver haired man with a purple headband came over sporting the same vest that Will was wearing. "Head ok? Pipes hurt, I should know."

"It's all good, Kalin. I'm fired up and ready to go!" Will grinned as she held up her arms and flexed.

"Same old Will! Good to see you're ready for some enforcing." Kalin grinned activating his duel disk. "But first, I gotta see for myself if you're really at 100 percent, before we get back to where we left off. So let's duel!"

"That's fine with me! Bring it!"" Will goaded as she extended her own disk.

 _ **Kalin: 4000**_

 _ **Will: 4000**_

"Think you can give me satisfaction, Will?" Kalin taunted drawing his hand.

"Only once you stop saying that, Chalk head." Will returned with a cheeky grin as she drew her hand but let it slide.

When the teen before her had first formed the team, he was going to call it Team Satisfaction and it was only the intervention of herself and Yusei that they had named their little group The Enforcers. Kalin was, naturally, upset at first but let it slide as the goal of uniting all of Satellite was greater than a stupid argument over a team name. It did not stop him from challenging his opponents, and even his teammates, to 'bring him satisfaction' like it was his favourite saying.

"I'll kick this off by activating the spell card Blessing of the Archduchess!" A card flipped up, a green haired woman with deer like antlers on her head rose up. She raised her hand and a card popped out of Will's deck which she grabbed, and shuffled the deck. "It allows me to take out an "Ark" monster and place it in my hand. And now I summon Spearholder of the ancient lands in attack mode!" A man in red with dreadlocks rose up from the field, twirling his spear with a cheeky grin on his face.

Spearholder of the Ancient Lands **(4 ATK/DEF:1900/0)**

"And I end by placing two cards face down."

"My move! And I'll start by playing the spell card Into the Void! This lets me draw another card at the price of discarding my entire hand at the end of my turn- not that that's a concern for me" Kalin grinned drawing another card. "I'll summon to the field Infernity Guardian in defense mode and place one card face down! Over to you, Will"

As the blazing shield with a skull materialised on the field, Kalin deposited the rest of his hand into his graveyard.

Infernity Guardian **(4 ATK/DEF:1200/1700)**

"Alright, I summon Warrior of the Ancient Sword in attack mode!" A Brown haired man with a pony tail rose up pointing his sword at Kallin.

Warrior of the Ancient Sword **(3 ATK/DEF:1300/1500)**

"When there's another Ancient or Lost Knight on the field, my warrior allows me to special summon Ark of Wizel from my deck." A white gauntlet and dagger rose up from the field.

Ark of Wizel **(3 ATK/DEF:0/500)**

"But it's not going to be around for long, because I'm using my Ark to tune up my warrior to synchro summon Lost Knight: Wizel!" The warrior grabbed the gauntlet and stuck it on his arm, slamming the dagger into the slot under the symbol generating three green rings that enveloped the warrior to burst into a pillar of light. Glowing blue eyes pierced the light before it was cleaved in two by the blade of a large white knight its blue cape fluttering behind it.

Lost Knight:Wizel **(6 ATK/DEF:1500/1700)**

"Now, I activate his special ability: banishing one card from my deck to add 300 attack points to my Wizel!" Wizel glowed blue as a card went into it.

Lost Knight:Wizel **(6 ATK/DEF:1500/1700-1800/1700)**

"Now attack!" Wizel rushed at the skull with its sword arcing down on it only for the attack to harmlessly bounce off.

"Your shining knight might have a keen edge, Will, but Infernity Guardian's indestructible so long as my hand's empty." Kalin smirked waving his empty hands at the girl. "They call me the 'man with no hand' for a reason."

"And they also call you the man of ego, but names are names, and I end my turn." Will smirked as her knight jumped back.

"My turn" Kalin growled never liking that attitude Will had when dueling even if she was a good duelist. "I summon Infernity Beast in attack mode and set his fangs against your knight!"

Infernity Beast **(3 ATK/DEF:1600/1200)**

The black dog that had suddenly made an appearance on the field leapt at the White Knight with fangs bared.

"And don't bother trying to activate any facedowns, Will. With no cards in hand, Infernity Beast stops any spells and traps from activating until he's finished his meal."

"But not monster effects!" Will smirked. "I banish one card to up my white knight's attack!" Lost Knight: Wizel **(6 ATK/DEF:1500/1700-1800/1700)**

Kalin merely grinned as his monster was destroyed.

 _ **Will:4000**_

 _ **Kalin:3800**_

"You may have destroyed my monster, but now I can summon from my graveyard Infernity Avenger to the field" He explained as a midget western bandit appeared on the field. "Not only that, but its level becomes that of the monster you destroyed"

Infernity Avenger **(1 ATK/DEF:0/0)-(3 ATK/DEF:0/0)**

"Your turn."

"Alright, my move! And I summon Ark of Larvayne in attack mode." Will said as what looked to be a red metal lizard flew in circles around Ancient Spearholder.

Ark of Larvayne **(3 ATK/DEF:0/0)**

"Now I'll use it to tune up my Spearholder to summon Lost knight: Larvayne!" Spearholder smirked as the Ark swirled around his waist like a belt, he slammed his hand down and cinched the buckle creating the same spectacle as before with Wizel only this knight was red and its weapon was a spear.

Lost Knight: Larvayne **(7 ATK/DEF:2200/2000)**

"Now show that cowboy what for, Wizel!" The white knight raced forward with the sword blade sinking effortlessly into Infernity Avenger.

"And now I activate Larvayne's special ability: I banish one card from my deck in order to give him piercing damage. Attack that skull."

Larvayne glowed red as he twirled his spear. He raced forward, the spear intent on piercing clean through the Infernity monster only for the Knight to suddenly combust before the spear could touch its opponent shocking Will greatly. The surprise did not stop there as the flames dwindled to show another of Kalin's Infernity monsters. Only then did she finally notice the now face up trap card Kalin had set during his first turn.

Infernity Necromancer **(3 ATK/DEF:0/2000)**

"Infernity Force: destroys a monster attacking one of my monsters and allows me to special summon another Infernity monster from my graveyard!" Kalin explained. "Guess your tongue and knights weapons are the only sharp objects you have, Will"

"...I end my turn." Will sounded coldly, irritated by how Larvayne was destroyed so easily partly due to her own ignorance.

"Very well," Kalin grinned drawing a card and quickly placing it into the spell and trap section of the disk to keep his zero card hand. "I set one card face down then activate Infernity Necromancer's ability to special summon Infernity Avenger back to the field."

The little gunslinger reappeared from a swish of Infernity Necromancer's purple cloak.

"Now, I'll use him to tune my Infernity Necromancer and Infernity Guardian together and synchro summon Infernity Doom Dragon!" Kalin exclaimed as the single green ring created from Infernity Avenger encircled the other two Infernity monsters and transforming into a large dragon creature.

Infernity Doom Dragon **(8 ATK/DEF:3000/2400)**

"Damn...I hate that thing." Will grumbled. It was by far the most troublesome monster the leader had in his deck.

"And now, to take care of your other knight. I activate Infernity Doom Dragon's special ability: because I have no cards in hand, I can destroy one monster you control and inflict damage equal to half it's attack points. So say farewell to your knight!" Kalin said pointing at Will's white knight. "Infernity Doom Dragon, wipe out her Knight with Infernity Death Breath!"

Opening it's large maw, the dark dragon unleashed a plume of black smoke at the remaining knight on Will's field.

"I activate the trap I had facedown! Protection of the father!" Will shouted as a card sprang up. A large tree grew in front of Wizel and took the flames in his place. "Because of it your monster's effect is negated and I banish one card from my deck."

Kalin frowned but wisely decided not to attack with his dragon now that its effect had been negated. "Turn over..."

Will had a calculating look on her face as she drew her card. _'Mm...that dragon's a real pain in the neck...maybe I should level the playing field a bit.'_ "I place Wizel in defence mode and set one card facedown. Then I summon ranger of the Ancient night in attack mode!" A girl with purple hair cut in a bob rose up on the field giving out a smile as she pulled out a bow from nowhere.

Ranger of the Ancient Night **(4 ATK/DEF: 1000/1500)**

"And due to her ability, if she's on the field with another Lost Knight, or ancient monster, she can attack you directly." Will called strongly as the ranger knocked an arrow back on her bow. "Now give Kallin a shot right between the eyes."

 _ **Will:4000**_

 _ **Kalin: 2800**_

The arrow was let fly with precision, hitting the man in the forehead and shattering. Kalin merely grunted in response as he took the attack but said nothing. He may have lost life points but with his dragon on the field, all Will was doing was supplying more ammo for him.

"I end."

"And I begin!" Kalin said drawing a card but not going straight into attacking just yet.

Out of all the Enforcers, Will was the toughest duellist for him to go up against due to her deck focusing on banishment which was not a good match up for his Infernity deck which was a graveyard focus. Yusei, Jack, even Crow's trick tactics he could overcome but Will, Kalin knew he had to play smart.

 _'Those facedowns of hers are likely hazardous to Infernity Doom Dragon. So long as I don't attack her monsters or her directly, I'll be fine'_ Kalin mentally reasoned. "I summon another Infernity Guardian to the field in defense mode then use Infernity Doom Dragon's ability to destroy your ranger and inflict half her attack points to your life points!"

Infernity Guardian **(3 ATK/DEF: 1200/2000)**

Once more, Infernity Doom Dragon opened its mouth and launched a stream of black smog at the smog smothered her, causing her to shatter.

 _ **Will:3500**_

 _ **Kallin:2800**_

"Turn over" Kalin finished. _'Slow and steady. Not my style but, against Will, it's better this way'_

Will drew her card...Then gained a smirk at what she saw. "Oh yeah! Just what I was hoping for! Never thought I would have to resort to this but here goes, I summon Ark of Adolmaea in attack mode!" A white mask with gold adornments appeared on the field next to Wizel.

Ark of Adolmaea **(4 ATK/DEF:0/0)**

"And I activate its effect, which allows me to banish it, and two more cards from my hand to synchro summon-" The mask burst into flames along with two cards in Will's hand, which were two warriors of the ancient sword, moved into the air in one clump before slamming into the field like a meteor. A gold knight with a shimmering cape rose up. Twirling what looked to be a gold, double bladed lance. "Lost Knight: Adolmaea!"

Lost knight: Adolmaea **(10 ATK/DEF:3000/2700)**

"And I activate his effect, allowing me to draw four cards..." Will drew said cards, gaining a smirk at what she saw. "And it's my lucky day! Because I drew a monster, which I can banish, I can destroy one of your monsters, and I choose Infirnity Guardian! Wrath of the Sun King!" Adolmaea's blades were set alight with flames and slashed at said guardian, causing it to shatter into pieces.

"And now I activate my facedown, Knights Resonance!" A spell card rose up from the field causing the two knights to start glowing blue and orange respectively. "When I have two or more Lost Knights on the field, they gain attack and defense points equal to the amount of cards removed from play, and guess how many, leader?"

Kalin merely gritted his teeth in frustration already done the math.

"That's right, eight cards of mine have been banished from play, which gives my knights an 800 point boost!"

Lost Knight: Wizel **(6 ATK/DEF:1500/1700-2300/2500)**

Lost knight: Adolmaea **(8 ATK/DEF:3000/2700-3800/3500)**

"I switch Wizel to attack mode and destroy your dragon with Adolmaea!" The sun king stabbed the black dragon through with his lance, causing it to shatter.

 _ **Will: 3500**_

 _ **Kalin: 2000**_

"Now finish it Wizel!" The white knight raced forward and slashed down on Kalin, making him cry out as he held up his arms against the hologram.

 _ **Will:3500**_

 _ **Kalin: 0**_

"Damn...Maybe you should be the leader instead of me?" Kalin didn't seem all that fussed about the loss as he stretched his arms into the sky. "Just kidding, you'd probably lead us off a cliff if we were lucky."

"Eh, can't argue with that." Will snickered at the joke as her duel disc folded.

The snicker quickly became a yelp as Kalin pinched her nose between two fingers hard.

"Just watch that attitude of yours. Jack and Crow are bad enough without adding you to the mix." Kalin scolded releasing his hold allowing Will to massage her sore nose.

"Guys! We have a serious problem!" A familiar voice called before Crow was seen running towards the two face red with exertion as he stopped, bending over and breathing in greedy breaths.

"What? What is it?" Kalin was worried now. Crow was like Will, he barely took anything seriously and he actually looked serious this time. Whatever was eating him, he hoped would not mess up their raid tomorrow.

"Kari's been swiped by team Black n blue!"

"What!?" Will shouted with wide eyes.

* * *

 **Grey: Dun dun dunnnnn!**

 **Free: Seriously, I'm starting to get mad-(Using a saw on the chain wrapped around his ankle.)**

 **Grey: Read, review, and if you can guess where Will's cards came from, I'll give you a sneak peak of the next chapter!**

 **Free:Stop ignoring-Ah forget it, look below for any original cards used.**

* * *

Spearholder of the Ancient Lands

Wind  
4  
1900/0  
( _Warrior/Effect_ ) If this card successfully destroys a monster in battle: change this card into face up defense position at the end of your battle phase. If there is another "Lost Knight" or "Ancient" card on the field: Negate this card's effect.

Warrior of the Ancient Sword

Earth  
3  
1300/1400  
( _Warrior/Effect_ ) If there is another "Lost Knight" or "Ancient" card on the field: special summon "Ark of Wizel" from your deck.

Ark of Wizel

Earth  
3  
0/500  
( _Rock/Tuner/Effect_ ) When this card is successfully summoned: special summon a level 3 or lower warrior type monster from your deck. If this effect is activated then used for material in a Synchro Summon: banish all material used for Synchro Summon.

Lost Knight Wizel

Earth  
6  
1500/1700  
( _Warrior/Synchro/Effect_ ) ( _Ark of Wizel & 1 non tuner monster_) During either player's battle phase: banish up to three cards to increase this cards ATK 300x the number of cards banished

Ark of Larvayne

Wind  
3  
0/0  
( _Dragon/Tuner/Effect_ ) Banish one card you control to special summon this card from your hand. If this effect is activated then used for material in a Synchro Summon: banish all material used for Synchro Summon

Lost Knight Larvayne

Wind  
7  
2200/2000  
( _dragon/Synchro/Effect_ ) ( _Ark of Larvayne & 1 non tuner monster_) during your battle phase banish one card from your hand to give this card piercing damage.

Ranger of the Ancient Night

Light  
4  
1000/1500  
( _Warrior/Effect_ ) If there is another **"** Lost Knight", "Ark" or "Ancient" card on the field: This card can attack your opponent's life points directly.

Ark of Adolmaea

Fire  
4  
0/0  
( _Pyro/Tuner/Effect_ ) If this card is on the field: Banish this card and non tuner monsters in your hand to synchro summon one Lost Knight(tbc) synchro monster. You cannot summon or special summon during the turn you activate this effect.

Lost Knight Adolmaea

Fire  
10  
3000/2700  
( _Pyro/Synchro/Effect_ ) ( _ark of Adolmaea & 2 or more non tuner monsters_) When this card is successfully summoned: Draw cards equal to the amount of material used to summon this card plus 2; banish any monster cards drawn to destroy cards your opponent controls equal to the number of banished cards then shuffle the rest back into your deck.

Blessing of the Archduchess

Spell/normal  
Add one "Ark" card from your deck to your hand. Shuffle your deck.

Knights Resonance

Spell/Continuous  
When you have two or more "Lost Knight" monsters on the field: "Lost Knights" gain ATK and DEF equal to the number of cards removed from play x100.

Protection of the Father

Trap/Counter  
Activate when a Lost Knight you control is targeted by your opponent's monster, spell or trap effect. Banish the top card from your deck to negate the attack/effect.


	6. Rescue and Retribution!

**Grey: Muhahaha. The whole plan is coming together...**

 **Free: You mean my plan.**

 **Grey: Details.**

 **Free: And kidnapping is _still_ a crime. (Slamming an axe on the chain around his ankle)**

 **Grey: Details, victimless details.**

 **Free: All I see are victims**

* * *

"Hurry up you idiot!" A man with a hat, tan jacket, and jeans shouted back to another man who was dressed the same only where he had blue hair, he himself had brown. Both had black and blue checker bandannas around their upper arms to signify what team they were from. "If those guys catch us before we get even ten feet of the hideout, we're toast!"

"I'm trying! This little brat won't stop kicking me!" The other man shouted yelping as Kari's foot caught him square in the ribs. He gave out an annoyed growl as his arm held her legs more firmly. They needed this girl as leverage against the Enforcers should their plan fail.

Rounding the corner that lead to their base, the two men skidded to a halt as a sudden feeling of fear and dread slammed down on them like a cold shower. From the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, five figures stood looking down on them like vultures observing a dying beast.

"I really have to thank you guys. You made it too easy for us to choose who to go after next..." Kalin remarked coldly the glare on his face making the two back up slightly. "But don't worry. We'll be going after Team Black and Blue too soon enough, Dirty Works!"

The two members of Team Dirty Works paled as they realized their plan had gone up in smoke and far quicker than it was supposed to.

"But how did…?" The man holding Kari tried to ask.

"We knew sooner or later someone would try to nab Kari," Crow smirked. "so Yusei rigged up and planted a tracker in her duel disk allowing us to find her, take out her kidnappers and capture their territory in one swoop!"

"It also saves us from wasting energy running around Satellite for the little miss, allowing us to vent more on you sorry chaps" Jack finished off a wicked gleam in his eyes.

The two men gulped as the Enforcers dropped down to the ground and made their way towards them. Their plan to have the Enforcers take out Team Black and Blue in retaliation for ' _kidnapping_ ' Kari had backfired painfully and now it was them that were about to feel their wrath.

"Into the hideout!" One of the goons shouted, the two turned on their heels and ran towards the building.

Only the man carrying Kari made it however as a handcuff latched onto the other's duel disk jerking him back towards the Enforcers once the cord snapped taunt.

"I don't think so! You guys made a _huge_ mistake takin one of our own and now you're gonna pay the price!" Crow called as he dragged the goon towards him. "You guys go on, I'll teach this guy some manners- And give Kari a hug for your favorite bird!"

"You got it, Beaky!" Will grinned as the rest of the Enforcers ran inside the ruined arcade center to be ambushed by a trio of opposing gang duelists.

"Enforcers! This is as far as you go!" one of the three called out as they sprang at them from behind the broken arcade games onto the Enforcer's exposed backs.

However, cuffs swung out and clamped onto their duel disks pulling them away from the Enforcers and into a nearby pinball machine which immediately blared ' **TILT** ' in flashing red lights as they moaned and clutched their sore heads.

"If you're going to ambush someone, better bolster your numbers first!" Jack advised the trio attaching all three opposite ends of the cuffs to his disk.

"Think you can handle things here, Jack?!" Yusei called out to the tall duelist.

Jack snorted in response. To him, three _amateurs_ were nothing more than a warm up for a warm up so there really was no point in Yusei asking if could manage. It was not that he did not appreciate the concern but there were more important matters for the crab haired techie to be concerned with at this moment in time.

From the corner of his eye, Jack noticed another duelist come at him but had no more cuffs to throw out. Fortunately, Kalin had noticed him also and intervened before the Dirty Works duelist could do so much as lift a finger let alone a lead pipe.

"Quit standing around, Yusei. Go find the little lady and let me and Jack mop things up here!" Kalin ordered.

"And give Kari a bigger hug from me!" Jack added. He would be damned if Crow got more attention than him.

"Hug her, big hug her- why is no one wanting to give _me_ a hug?" Will grumbled as she and Yusei moved on to the next room.

"Because she's cuter and more vulnerable out of the two of you." Yusei commented with a small smile.

"Remind me to duel you into the ground after we're done here, Crabby!" Will snapped as she followed Yusei into the next room.

Next room was rather a worn down bowling alley complete with bowling balls and pins although none of the lanes were in good enough condition to be used even if any engines used to run them had not been pinched for use elsewhere. It still did not stop Yusei from pausing slightly to take a proper look at the place. Being stuck in an orphanage since he could remember, he had seen little of the outside world other than in books and, despite being the Enforcer's voice of reason, he was still curious about things he had yet to see or experience first-hand.

Sadly, while Yusei's attention was elsewhere, he had forgotten all about why team Dirty Works had earned their name. Unnoticed by the techie, his foot had slammed down on a taunt wire snapping it clean in two and triggering a hatch above his head to open and spill a deadly amount of debris down onto his unsuspecting head.

Fortunately, what Yusei had failed to spot, Will was quick to notice. Seeing the debris pouring down towards Yusei Will put out an extra burst of speed and rammed into Yusei sending them both face first into the ground outside the drop zone.

Surprised as he was about being shoved to the ground, Yusei found himself speechless as he stared at the place now covered in rubble.

"This is a turf war, Yusei. Keep your head in the game." Will pointed out as she stood up. "Last thing we need is you kicking the bucket before you finish all our runners. After that…well, that's up to you."

"Got it thanks." Yusei managed to smirk as he got up. "We better be careful. Who knows how many more traps these guys have set up."

"Or you can just relinquish your disks and colors before running away with your tails between your legs" Another voice interjected.

Turning as one, Will and Yusei trained their eyes on the mohawked leader of Dirty Works his confident grin warning them he had a rather sinister plan worthy of the team name.

"Here's the deal, Enforcers: You back down and your little friend backstage doesn't end up like an overworked rubber band!" Kameno negotiated jerking a thumb behind him to a wall where Kari was likely being held.

While not knowing how things worked as much as Yusei, Will was still fighting the urge to just go over to Kameno and having him trading places with her sister- assuming she let him keep his sanity. With her sister's life on the line, she could not properly think up a counter offer that would help rescue Kari without tarnishing the Enforcers name.

"Here's a better deal: you duel one of us." Yusei cut in. "We win you hand over Kari and your turf. You win and you'll have our turf, decks, runners and even our lives to do with as you please- including the little girl you've got hidden away back there."

Will and Kameno stared at Yusei but for different reasons. For Will she could not believe her friend could say something both daring and foolish especially with her sister on the line. Kameno on the other hand was finding this deal almost irresistible: he would have the Enforcers working for him and get two slave girls for his own pleasure and later on profit once he got tired of them.

"Deal!" Kameno agreed not really thinking over the cons along with the pros. "So, which of you am I trouncing?"

"That last part remains to be seen but as for your opponent," Yusei patted Will on the shoulder. "Will be her."

It took several seconds of Will blinking before realizing she had just been nominated for the deciding duel- and without her input to boot.

"Hey! Don't I get a say in this?!" Will whispered furiously to her friend as Kameno set up his duel disk. "This is my sister on the line here- not to mention the fate of the Enforcers!"

"Which is why you're going to be dueling instead of me." Yusei replied like it was the most obvious. "I know you're angry right now, Will, but I also know that when something important to you is on the line, your connection to your cards is greater than any of us."

Will was still doubtful of the whole idea but knew that, since it was initially her sister they had come here for, it should be her that dueled if just to appease her anger for what they had done to them.

"Okay, I'll do it. But what are you going to be doing?" She asked curiously.

"What I do best." Yusei grinned as he walked off.

"This is hardly the time to be giving out motivational speeches!" Will called after his retreating back before her brain finally caught up to her. "Oh, right."

"So, we gonna do this or you wanna wait for your friend to gather the rest of my new members first?" Kameno called out to Will.

Will frowned as she activated her duel disk.

"By the time my friends get here, you'll be wishing you never even dreamed of trying to screw the Enforcers over!" She threw back. "Let's duel!"

 _ **Kameno: 4000**_

 _ **Will: 4000**_

"I'll start!" Kameno declared drawing his sixth card smirking as he added it to his hand. "I summon Dark Scorpion-Chick the Yellow in attack mode and place three cards face down"

A seedy looking teen appeared before Kameno carrying a large mallet on his back along with three face down cards before the latter faded into the ground.

Dark Scorpion- Chick the Yellow **(3 ATK/DEF: 1000/1000)**

"Turn over"

"My turn, I place two facedowns and summon Warrior of the Ancient Sword in attack mode!" Will called as two cards materialized and in front of them, the bronze haired warrior rose up with shield and sword in hand.

Warrior of the Ancient Sword **(3 ATK/DEF:1300/1400)**

"Now attack that thief!" The boy raced forward, aiming to slice the teenager in half.

"Tough luck! I activate my face down card: Shrink!" Kameno grinned activating the quick-play spell card before him. "With this, I can half the attack points of one monster on the field! Let's see what your warrior's like at half strength!"

Warrior of the Ancient Sword **(3 ATK/DEF:1300/1000-650/1000)**

The warrior cried out as the teenager dodged his attack and slammed his mallet against him, making him shatter into pixels.

 ** _Kameno: 4000_**

 ** _Will: 3650_**

"And it's not over just yet! When Chick the Yellow inflicts damage, I can choose to return one card on the field to the hand or check the top card of your deck!" Kameno intervened. "Since it's pointless making you take back a face down, show me your next draw- and no peeking!"

Will rolled her eyes before drawing the card and showing it to the dirty works leader.

 _So she was gonna draw a Tuner, huh? And a dangerous one at that._ Kameno smirked as he recognized Will's Ark of Adolmaea. _Well, too bad for you, girl. My Dark Scorpions are gonna steal more than just your chance at victory from you!_

"Send it to the bottom of your deck" The duelist finally called out to Will, who grumbled as she did just that.

"I end." Will said grudgingly having a feeling that card might've finished this duel quick and easy...

"Now, my turn!" Kameno grinned as he drew a card smiling even wider when he saw what he had just drawn. "Before I begin chipping away at you, I'll activate my face down card, Trap Stun preventing us from using any trap cards for the remainder of this turn!"

Materializing from the ground, the purple card emitted a bolt of lightning that struck Kameno's other face down along with Will's own face downs.

"Now, I summon Don Zaloog in attack mode!" Kameno continued as an aged mercenary appeared before Kameno wielding a pair of short blades.

Don Zaloog **(4 ATK/DEF: 1400/1500)**

"Now, feel the might of my monsters! Don Zaloog, Chick the Yellow, attack her life points directly!" Kameno ordered waving his monsters towards his helpless opponent.

As one, the two thieves jumped at Will with hammer and blades at the ready to striking through her successfully.

 _ **Kameno: 4000**_

 _ **Will: 1250**_

"Now my monsters abilities activate. My Don Zaloog can now make you send the top two cards from your deck while the third you can just send straight to the bottom of your deck!" Kameno sneered already tasting victory against the Enforcers.

Will could not believe this guy. She was used to banishing her cards not sending them straight from her deck to the graveyard. Still, the two she had just discarded could still be used provided that her next draw was a good one.

"You done pal?" Will inquired wondering what else he could do to damage her deck.

"Yeah, I'm done." Kameno replied confidently. _Doesn't matter what she plays. Any attack she makes will just set off my Mirror Force trap card leaving her wide open and any cards she plays face down will be useless once I play Cold Wave. This match is in the bag!_

"Then I'll draw!" _Here's hoping what you say is true, Yusei- otherwise I'm really gonna let you have it afterwards!_ Will drew her card and could feel a grin creep onto her face as she saw the card. "Well well...Looks like I've found a way around your little traps. I summon Ark of Luthia in attack mode!" She called as what looked to be a bow made of luminous metal rose up.

Ark of Luthia **(3 ATK/DEF:1000/0)**

"And due to its special ability, I can special summon a monster from my graveyard." Will grinned. "And I chose one of the two cards you made me discard earlier, Ranger of the Ancient Night in attack mode." The purple haired archer rose up on the field with a wink.

Ranger of the Ancient Night **(4 ATK/DEF:1000/1500)**

"And now I use my bow to tune up my archer to synchro summon Lost Knight: Luthia in defense mode!" The archer grinned before grabbing the bow and shooting it, turning into light and shooting up into the air with green rings forming around them. Then a rather beautiful white knight fell to the ground, her hair seemed to be made of luminous light, her eyes glowing purple.

Lost knight: Luthia **(7 ATK/DEF:1500/2500)**

"So you made a wall..." Kameno droned not really seeing how an armored archer could do much in defense mode.

"Heh, did you really think I was done?" Will smirked. "I activate my facedown card, the equip spell El'Liet, and equip it to my knight. This lets her attack while in defense mode." The bow the knight was holding glowed and changed shape. "Now, get rid of Yellow first Moonlight Arrow!"

The archer pulled back the bowstring of light before letting the bolt fly. Kameno could only stare slack jawed as Chick the Yellow was sent catapulting backwards before bursting into pixels.

 _ **Kameno: 3500**_

 _ **Will: 1250**_

"And I end. How's your future looking now?" Will smirked.

"Better than your little sister's, that's for sure!" Kameno retorted. "Even as we speak, she's probably a good foot taller than she was before. Will make breaking her in a whole lot easier should she survive!- 'tho that'll all depend on how you play your next turn!"

In response to his jab, Will merely smirked as she pointed to a spot behind Kameno. Cocking his head in confusion, Kameno twisted to look round to only balk when he saw Kari standing there free of her confines and waving cheerfully at him.

"How the hell did you get free?!" Kameno snarled. There were enough ropes and knots to make a sailor cry in envy!

Kari just remained silent with her grin firmly intact, Yusei coming up next to her was all the answer needed. The crab headed enforcer gave Will a smile and a nod, motivational speeches wasn't _all_ he was good at. Kameno scowled at the sight of him. He had been wondering where the fifth member of the Enforcers had gone off to after bartering the deal.

 _No matter! Once I deal with this one, he'll get his dues. First I just need to hold off this armored archer's assault long enough to do so!_ Kameno thought as he drew his next card. _This'll do..._ "I summon Dark Scorpion- Meanae the Thorn in defense mode and shift Don Zaloog also into defense mode!"

Dark Scorpion- Meanae the Thorn **(4 ATK/DEF: 1000/1800)**

So long as I keep my defense points higher than her attack points, she'll have no choice but to bring in a real heavy hitter! Kameno thought as a slender women dressed in garb similar to his other two Dark Scorpion monsters appeared brandishing her whip before both she and Don Zaloog turned blue to signify their position.

"You really think that's gonna stop me? Alright...I summon another Ark of Luthia in attack mode." Will grinned after she drew her card. The bow reappearing on the field. "And use its ability to bring Traveler from the Ancient War back from the graveyard." A man with a green traveling cloak, red eyes, and black hair rose up on the field.

Traveler from the Ancient War **(4 ATK/DEF:1700/1400)**

"And I use my bow to tune up my warrior to synchro summon Mirror Soul Dragon!" She raised a hand up as the monsters turned into a ring, the air getting cold, but warm as a roar went out. A beautiful Dragon spread its wings, Crystal ice making up most of its body that refracted the light.

Mirror Soul Dragon **(7 ATK/DEF:2400/2400)**

"I...I don't r-remember her h-having that..." Kari mumbled. Her brow furrowed in confusion at how her sister seemed to play the card she's never seen with such familiarity.

"And I activate its ability, which allows me to banish it to draw and activate a spell or trap card from my deck! And I chose Nobleman of Extermination!" She called as the Dragon turned into snow that fell from the sky. "And I chose that facedown there for my Nobleman!" She pointed at the one on the left. Kameno could only balk as his ace trap card was stabbed by the broadsword of the nobleman causing it to burst into pixels.

"And I end." Will could only smirk at his look of utter surprise.

"Don't see why you're looking so smug! Your dragon's gone leaving you with your wall monster!" Kameno snapped before smirking when he saw what card he had drawn. Perfect! "I sacrifice Don Zaloog to advance summon Dark Scorpion- Gorg the Strong in attack mode!"

Disappearing into a black hole, the twin bladed mercenary left the field to be replaced by a more muscular looking mercenary wielding a hefty mace.

Dark Scorpion- Gorg the Strong **(4 ATK/DEF:1800/1500)**

"I play one more card face down and end my turn!" Kameno finished. _Now, just try and come at me!_

"My move! And here's a little tip about my dragon, she comes back during my standby phase when removed from the field by her own effect!" Will called with a grin as Mirror Soul Dragon reappeared in a flurry of snow. "Now, let's reintroduce Gorg to the ice age!" The Dragon breathed in before blowing out a blue beam at the mercenary.

"HAH! You're dragon may be back but not for long!" Kameno barked pressing a button on his disk causing a face down card to materialize on the ground then lift up revealing a blue framed card with the picture of a charging warthog on it. "I activate Rush Recklessly and boost my monster's attack seven hundred points!"

Gorg the Strong **(4 ATK/DEF: 1800/1500-2500/1500)**

Glowing red, the mercenary swung his mace like a flail releasing it so that it shot towards the ice dragon.

"Not so fast! I activate Mirror Soul's effect to banish it again, this time to activate the spell card Reinforcement of the army from my deck!" Will called before the flail hit the dragon so that all the weapon struck was a cloud of snow. "And I use it to add Necro Gardna to my hand. I end the battle phase and summon Ark of Adolmaea in attack mode!" The mask appeared on the field with a burst of flame.

Ark of Adolmaea **(4 ATK/DEF: 0/0)**

"And I activate it's effect to banish it along with Necro Gardna and Marauding Captain from my hand to synchro summon Lost Knight: Adolmaea!" The masks and the two cards combusted into a pillar of fire from which the knight of the Sun burst forth, his lance slicing through it with ease.

Lost knight: Adolmaea **(10 ATK/DEF:3000/2700)**

"And when summoned, I can draw cards equal to the amount used to summon him, plus two." She explained as she drew four cards, grinning at the sight of Ark of Dinivas and Ark of Larvayne among the four. "And I get to destroy two cards on your field since I drew two monsters."

"What!?" Kameno exclaimed as he watched his monsters disappear into columns of red flames. _You gotta be kiddin me! No duelist is that lucky!_

"I end my turn...Next one, I finish things." Will promised confidently.

Kameno could only grumble as he shakily drew his next card. At the sight of Lightning Vortex in his hand, he almost felt like playing it, but-

"Turn over..." Kameno muttered in defeat knowing full well that, even if he destroyed Will's Knights, her stupid dragon would come back during her standby phase and still wipe out his life points.

"I draw, and of course my dragon comes back..." Mirror Soul dragon returned to the field with a burst of snow. "Now, Adolmaea, Mirror Soul Dragon, finish it off!" The two monsters reared back before sending forth a wave of snow and fire.

Kameno allowed the attacks to wash over him too upset that his plans to get rid of one duel gang and weaken another for their attack had gone up in smoke.

 _ **Kameno:0**_

 _ **Will: 1250**_

* * *

"Come on! Since I got the leader, the least you guys can let me do is choose dinner!" Will complained as they all walked back to the hideout after sending all the dirty works members to the four winds(Some with noticeable bruising, courtesy of a certain bird and king). After prying her sister from her two affectionate " _Big Brothers_ " of course.

"No way, we had your choice last time, and I don't want pizza twice in a row, no matter how good it is." Crow denied with his hands behind his head.

"How about we force birdbrain here to eat his own kind? I still have that turkey jerky." Jack gave out a smirk as Crow glared daggers at him.

Kari herself, however, was rather quiet as she held her sister's hand while they walked. _What was that dragon? Where did it come from?_ These thoughts plagued her, she was sure she had never seen it used by her sister before. _But why did Will play it like it was there since the beginning? Did she just keep it back as a trump card? No, she sucks at lying about anything..._

"Hey, you alright little lady?" Kalin's voice made the little blond jump.

"I-I'm fine, really." Kari assured the leader. _Well whatever! I'm sure that dragon's a great sign!_ Kari smiled more at the thought.

* * *

 **Grey: And finished! What do you think Free?**

 **Free:...(Brings out a little hand sized blow torch and set it alight with a sparker)**

 **Grey: W...Where the _hell_ did you get that!?**

 **Free: Home depot.**

 **Grey:...Seriously? They sell that there?**

 **Free: You'd be surprised.**

* * *

Ark of Luthia

Light  
3  
ATK/DEF:1000/0  
 _(Fairy/Tuner/Effect)_ When this card is successfully summoned: special summon one monster to the field from your graveyard.

Lost Knight Luthia

Light  
7  
ATK/DEF:1500/2500  
 _(Fairy/Synchro/Effect)_ During your main phase: banish one card from your hand to shuffle up to 3 cards removed from play into your deck. You cannot conduct your battle phase if you use this effect.

Traveler from the Ancient War

Earth  
4  
ATK/DEF:1700/1400  
 _(Spellcaster/Effect_ ) When this card is successfully summoned: return one banished spell or trap card to your hand.

Mirror Soul Dragon

Water  
7  
ATK/DEF:2400/2400  
 _(Dragon/Synchro/Effect) (1 tuner & 1 non tuner monster)_ During your main phase, or your opponents battle phase, banish this card to draw one spell or trap card from your deck & activate it. If you activate this effect, banish the target card. If this card is banished by it's own effect, special summon it to the field during your next standby by phase.

El'Liet

Spell/Equip  
This card can only be equipped to "Lost Knight Luthia". Target card can attack while in face up defense position.


	7. Samurai takeover!

**Grey:...You really like irony too much. (indicates to the ball and chain attached to her ankle.)**

 **Free: Nope. I like good old fashioned payback.**

 **Grey: Oh I can tell...**

* * *

The next day the enforcers had gathered at the gates of the most numerous duel gang in the Satellite, Team Non-Securities. They had made their own reputation of haggling everyone in their territory for so called 'Protection' money so they could keep the Securities out. In actuality, all they did was duel against the police to keep them out so they could rule their own slice of territory the way they wanted which was more or less the same as the actual Security. So the Enforcers were going to put a stop to that.

"Alright. This is it." Kalin called out to his little crew, eagerness clear in his voice. "Today, we're taking over the whole of B.A.D. and Non-Securities are holding the final area."

Will rolled her eyes before winking at Kari as the two listened to the leader's ' _inspiring_ ' speech. With a little luck, and quite literally a whole lot of duels, this would be the last time they would have to hear Kalin's pep talks…hopefully. She was sure Yusei and Jack were on a similar wavelength but had the patience to weather it out. Crow on the other hand-

"C'mon already! Let's get this turf battle started!" The redhead groaned, his dueling spirit and Blackwings itching for a fight.

"Let's not be too hasty, guys. It may be the last turf battle but it doesn't mean we can let up our guard." Yusei cut in ever the voice of wisdom among them. He wanted to win this as much as the others but was not going to risk being careless at the final hurdle.

"Enough with the chit-chat, chaps. Instead of talking about it, how's about we start doing it, ey?" Jack spoke up lifting the bolt cutters from his shoulders forcing Kari to move away from the lock of the front gate she was inspecting.

"I-I still could just..." Kari's call was on deaf ears as Jack just clipped the lock with the bolt cutters. "N...Never mind..."

"Whoever's in our way, we'll meet them head-on and take them out." Jack declared confidently as the gate slid open with a large crash as he introduced his boot to it.

"Enforcers, let's move out!" Kalin ordered before charging in without a second thought followed closely by Crow leaving the more level headed ones at the gate.

"Ah, the stupidity of hot heads…" Will sighed patting a sorrowful Kari on the head to make her feel better.

"Your favorite kind if your flirtations with Crow are anything to go by." Jack added to her statement as he activated his duel disk and readied a bunch of cables. "Now why don't we stop flapping our lips out here and remove some of these chaps stopping us from taking over their turf?"

Yusei and Will merely activated their own disks and cables as the trio stepped into enemy territory and towards the sound of approaching footsteps.

* * *

"Mirror Soul Dragon, finish them with Glacial Burn!" Will ordered her monster.

Rearing its head, the giant dragon unleashed a plume of below zero fire that turned the two monsters into fragile ice sculptures that shattered along with their duelists duels disks as their life points hit zero. Realizing they were out of their league, the two members of Non-Security took to the gates leaving Will to reel in her capture cable while mentally adding two more to her undefeated streak.

"Just for the record, I could have handled all four of them by myself." Jack protested having already mopped the floor with the two who had foolishly decided to stick around and face him and his Red Dragon Archfiend.

"Oh, quit trying to prove yourself, Jackie-boy. We are a team after all." Will waved off with a cheerful grin.

"It doesn't matter how many of those losers come at me at once, they're no match for me!" Jack scoffed proudly as he walked off to find more victims for his dragon.

Will shook her head at the teen's retreating back. She was certain that that guy's pride was going to cost him big time one of these days, and secretly, she hoped that she was there when it happened- it never hurt to remind people of their misfortune every now and again just to prevent a repeat performance further down the line or just to tease them per say.

Taking off herself, Will soon ran into Crow taking on a couple of Non-Security thugs although she doubted he needed the help seeing as he had four Blackwings on his field against the combined trio of wall monsters Non-Sec were using to fend him off.

"Having fun, Beaky?" Will called out to him as she passed.

"I will be after this move." Crow grinned as he looked at the card he just drew. "Get going, Will, and leave me to my fun!"

With a shrug and a smirk, Will left Crow to his 'fun' as she took off further into the factory in search of opponents and the other members of the Enforcers if just to make sure they were not getting in over their heads like they sometimes did when the adrenaline surged. She stormed towards a narrow bridge, cursing her luck when she already saw people on it.

"Man of the Shell Bullet, finish it off with Shell Bullet Burst!"

Skidding to a halt when she heard the strong, familiar tone of her little sister, Will shielded her eyes as the bright yellow flash filled the area followed by the pained yelps of the two non-securities when they fell on their asses with their duel disks now smoldering lumps of junk. It always made her heart swell with pride to see her sister being strong when she had to be.

"Hey, good job!" Will complimented as she rubbed the smiling Kari's head. "Just be sure to not let the victory get to your head."

"I'm n-not like your b-boyfriend, sister- or Kalin and Jack!" Kari pouted slipping back into the stuttering sister Will knew and loved.

"Just think of it as some big sister advice." Will grinned. "Now, speaking of the boys, mind doubling back to see if Crow and Jack have gotten in over their heads again yet?"

"O-ok, I'll make sure your boyfriend doesn't get himself plucked by someone before you get the ch-chance to." Kari giggled running back along the narrow bridge before Will could come up with a suitable counter-attack that had left her spluttering at its ambiguous implications.

"Jeez...I really need to keep a closer eye on her friends if she's spouting adult humor…" Will sighed heading off herself in the direction of the factory rooftops where she hoped she would find Kalin and Yusei.

* * *

"You're not getting away!" Yusei shouted as he threw his cable at Gushizawa, the retreating Non-Security leader.

As the claw at the end of the cable successfully clamped down upon the the leader's duel disk, Yusei braced his legs for when the line snapped taut. Surprise appeared on his features when he found himself suddenly being pulled by Gushizawa as the man kept on running despite the extra weight on one arm. Digging his feet in, Yusei tried desperately to stop Gushizawa as he ran towards the edge of the roof and lept over a two meter gap to the next roof. Without the proper speed to clear the gap himself but still going too fast to stop before going over the edge, Yusei went into a sliding tackle slipping underneath the rail Gushizawa had used as a springboard and was left dangling from the roof as Gushizawa suddenly found himself being tugged back as the two opposing forces snapped the line taught.

"Sonuva-!" Gushizawa groaned as he clambered back to his feet. Spotting the dangling duelist saved by the cord connecting them together by their duel disks, Gushizawa sneered as he reached for the buckle of his duel disk.

Realising what was about to happen, Yusei desperately tried to pull himself up and grab the ledge that was just inches from his fingers. His fingertips brushed the ledge before the cord went slack as Gushizawa removed his duel disk. With nothing supporting his weight, Yusei could only watch as gravity pulled him further away from the ledge towards the hard ground far below him. Not even six feet closer to his demise, Yusei winced as something caught the cable and jarred his left arm nearly to the point of taking his arm off from the shoulder.

"Hang in there, Yusei!" Kalin's voice drifted down to him.

"Kalin?" Yusei muttered in disbelief looking up to find The Enforcer's leader holding onto the capture cable. "What are you doing?!"

"Saving your sorry hide- what do _think_ I'm doing?!" Kalin threw back through gritted teeth as he felt the cable slip through his fingers. "Jeez! You been sneaking extra visits to Martha's for an extra meal or something?! You're damn heavier than you look!"

"Kalin, just let go!" Yusei called up to him seeing that he was struggling to pull him up.

"Shut your mouth!" Kalin snapped tightening his grip on the cable. "Either you're coming up, or we're both going down!"

"Well, ain't that precious!" Gushizawa snorted as he watched the two from the next rooftop.

As much as the Non-Security leader wanted to stick around and see how things unfolded, Gushizawa knew there were still other members of The Enforcers out there and needed to become scarce before they showed up. Grabbing a spare duel disk, Gushizawa took off towards the door leading down from the roof only to have the door fly open right in his face sending him crashing to the ground.

Blinking away the tears welling up from having his nose introduced to a solid piece of wood, Gushizawa had no time to avoid the capture cable thrown at him clamping onto his duel disk with a loud click.

"You weren't trying to leave the party so soon, were you?" Will inquired wrapping the cable around a protruding pipe in the roof before connecting the other end to her duel disk.

"So, you'd rather take on me than help save your friend?" Gushizawa sneered as he picked himself up.

"Hey, Kalin! Need help?!" Will hollered over to the white haired teen.

"You just put that guy in his place, Will!" Kalin hollered back as he worked on tugging Yusei back up to the rooftop.

"Problem solved! Now draw your hand so I can duel you into the ground!" Will challenged her disk and deck prepped and ready for the battle.

Frowning, Gushizawa activated his duel disk and drew his hand.

 _ **Will: 4000**_

 _ **Gushizawa:4000**_

 _This kid may think she's hot stuff, but she ain't come up against a guy like me!_ Gushizawa thought as he looked over his hand and liking what he saw.

"This is my turf so I'll start! I summon Six Samurai Nisashi to the field!" A samurai in green armor appeared before Gushizawa, wielding pair of beam sabers like katana

The Six Samurai- Nisashi **(4 ATK/DEF:1400/700)**.

"And because I have a Six Samurai on the field, I can summon from my hand Grandmaster of the Six Samurai!" Beside Nisashi, a more older samurai materialised with a sheathed katana held in one hand

Grandmaster of the Six Samurai **(5 ATK/DEF:2100/800)**

"And now that I have two Six Samurai on the field, I can now call out Great Shogun Shien!" Gushizawa grinned widely as the towering warlord in red armor appeared between his two other monsters.

Great Shogun Shien **(7 ATK/DEF: 2500/2400)**

"With this last guy, you can only use one spell or trap per turn. Your move!"

Will could only grimace. The first turn and already her opponent had her outnumbered three monsters to nil on the field two of which were high level. It was like going up against Crow except this time it was against samurai instead of birds and these ones were more tricky to deal with. If she was going to beat this guy, she was going to have to play this smart and trust in her cards.

"I draw. I summon Ark of Wizel to the field and through his ability I can summon Assassin of the Ancient Shadows from my deck!" A gauntlet appeared on the field followed closely by a blonde girl swathed in black

Ark of Wizel **(3 ATK/DEF: 0/500)**

Assassin of the Ancient Shadows **(3 ATK/DEF: 500/500)**

"Now, I Tune my level three Ark with my level three Assassin to Synchro Summon Lost Knight Wizel!" As she spoke, the white gauntlet transformed into three green rings that enveloped the Assassin creating a pillar of light that faded to reveal the towering form of Wizel

Lost Knight Wizel **(6 ATK/DEF:1500/1700)**

"Your Knight's a _little_ short in power to take on my monsters!" Gushizawa smirked.

"I haven't even started my main phase." Will retorted. "See, if I banish Assassin of the Ancient Shadows through an effect of an Ark monster, I get to destroy one of your monsters- so say goodbye to your Shogun!"

From behind Gushizawa, the Assassin suddenly lept at Great Shogun Shien's back with knife in hand. In a blur of motion, the blade sank effortlessly into Nisashi's neck when the green swathed samurai stepped between the Assassin and the General bursting into pixels while the Assassin faded away into nothing.

"A common ability of Six Samurai that allows me to select another Six Samurai to destroy in it's place, Great Shogun Shien has that ability also!" Gushizawa explained with a sneer.

"It still helps in evening the playing field. Wizel, attack Grandmaster with White Steel Slash!" Will ordered undeterred by the hiccup. "And by banishing the top three cards from my deck, Wizel gets nine hundred extra attack points!"

Lost Knight Wizel **(6 ATK/DEF: 1500/1700-2400/1700)**

Charging forward, the white knight cut through the Grandmaster like a hot knife through butter.

 _ **Gushizawa:3700**_

"You may have destroyed my monster, but it's ability allows me to bring my Six Samurai - Nisashi from my graveyard back to my hand!" Gushizawa said as he took the monster card from his graveyard and added it to his hand. "Anything else you wanna do?"

"Yeah, I'll play one card face down and end my turn." Will replied placing one card into her spell/trap zone.

"My turn! And I'll start by summoning Nisashi back to the field!" Gunshizawa smirked as a familiar samurai reappeared on the field. "And to celebrate his return, I activate the spell card Double Strike which, by sending my level six Enishi, Shien's Chancellor to the graveyard, will allow Nisashi to attack twice this turn. But before anything else, I'll take out your knight with my Great Shogun!"

Raising its katana, tinted red from the foes it had felled, the Shogun charged at Wizel like a keen edged gale that rent Wizel asunder before the knight could properly defend itself.

 _ **Will:3900**_

"Luckily for me, Wizel's ability can be activated during either of our turns." Will said as she drew three cards from her deck and shoved them into her back pocket. "By banishing the top three cards from my deck, I boosted Wizel's attack back up to twenty four hundred reducing the amount of damage your Shogun did to him and my life points."

"Perhaps. But now that your only monster is gone, my Nisashi can attack you directly twice!" Gunshizawa sneered as the green clad samurai appeared suddenly before Will and cut into her twice with his beam katana.

 ** _Will:100_**

"And with that, I end my turn! You wanna give up now or let the inevitable happen?!" Gunshizawa mocked as he sneered at Will.

To his surprise, Will actually smirked before drawing a card. He had completely no idea what was in store for him.

"I'll let the inevitable happen! As in, the inevitable _victory_ I'm about to gain after I activate my facedown card, Return from the Different Dimension!" Will declared as the facedown card upturned to reveal a picture of several monsters dropping out of the sky. "By cutting what's left of my life points in half, I can special summon as many monsters removed from play as my field will allow!"

 _ **Will:50**_

Gunshizawa's eyes widened when he realised what had happened. Will had allowed him to destroy her knight and was not phased about it because she had only required that knight's ability. Including the two she had banished when she summoned the knight, there were now eight of Will's cards removed from play and several were sure to be monsters. But were they good enough to help the Enforcer win the duel.

"Now, return to me: Ark of Wizel, Ark of Dinivas, Ark of Larvayne, Assassin of the Ancient Shadows and Ranger of the Ancient Night!" Will yelled out to the heavens.

Answering her call, the female archer and assassin dropped in from overhead along with a gauntlet, red scaled belt and a pitch black longsword landing at their feet.

Ark of Wizel **(3 ATK/DEF: 0/500)**

Ark of Dinivas **(3 ATK/DEF: 1000/1000)**

Ark of Larvayne **(3 ATK/DEF: 0/0)**

Assassin of the Ancient Shadows **(3 ATK/DEF: 500/500)**

Ranger of the Ancient Night **(4 ATK/DEF: 1000/1500)**

"And now for a surplus synchro summon special: I tune my level three Ark of Dinivas with my level three Assassin to synchro summon Lost Knight Dinivas and tune Ark of Larvayne with my level four Ranger to synchro summon Lost Knight Larvayne!" Will began as the Ranger and Assassin grabbed two of the three Arks and transformed into towering knights resembling a red dragon and black bird respectively.

Lost Knight Larvayne **(7 ATK/DEF: 2200/2000)**

Lost Knight Dinivas **(6 ATK/DEF: 2100/1000)**

"And let's not forget my Assassin's ability so say goodbye to Nisashi!"

From behind Nisashi, the Assassin once again appeared plunging her knife into her target's back causing it to burst into pixels. Given how Shien's ability would just make Nisashi the target again, Will reckoned she might as well target the underling than the boss not that it mattered which monster she targeted.

"And now that my field is a little less cluttered, I can summon my level four Spearholder of the Ancient Lands and tune him to my level three Ark of Wizel to synchro summon my Mirror Soul Dragon!" Will said as she summoned the braided spear wielder, [Spearholder of the Ancient Lands: **(4 ATK/DEF:1900/0)** ] who quickly transformed into the crystaline dragon that was quickly becoming her signature monster [Mirror Soul Dragon: **(7 ATK/DEF:2400/2400)** ]. "She's not hanging around though for I'm activating her ability. By banishing my dragon, I can play one spell or trap card from my deck and I choose the spell card Rush Recklessly and boost Dinivas' attack by seven hundrd points!"

Lost Knight Dinivas **(6 ATK/DEF:2100/1000-2800/1000)**

Gunshizawa was beginning to sweat. The tables had turned and now he was the one outnumbered. He knew he could survive this turn but, unless he drew a good card next turn, it was going to be the end of him.

"Hope you're not thinking that you'll survive this turn." Will smirked as she read the emotions playing across her opponent's face causing Gushizawa to balk and pale. "Dinivas has a special ability, see? And here's how it works: First, Dinivas attacks your Shogun!"

Darting forward like a black wind, Dinivas thrust its black rapier right through the Shogun's heart.

 _ **Gushizawa:3400**_

"Then, by banishing the top card of my deck, Dinivas can attack again if it's a monster card!" Will smirked drawing a card to reveal Warrior of the Ancient Blade. "Too bad for you."

Gushizawa yelped as the black knight lunged once more. Even if it were a hologram, almost being impaled was still scary.

 _ **Gushizawa:600**_

"And now, the coup de gracie! Larvayne, finish things with Dragoon Charge!" Will ordered.

This time, Gushizawa did yell out in pain not due to the attack but rather the small explosion his duel disk made when the life point counter hit zero.

 _ **Gushizawa:0**_

"Dammit! I didn't expect you to be so powerful!" Gunshizawa cursed as he pulled the busted disk off his arm.

Realizing what this meant, the beaten gang leader turned to flee only to freeze up when he found himself blocked by Kalin and Yusei.

"Howdy." Kalin greeted the leader although the smile he was sporting was anything but sincere causing Gunshizawa to gulp in fear of what was about to happen to him for what he almost did to Yusei.

"This is the part where you surrender your turf to us. I did just duel your caboose into the rooftop after all." Will supplied a touch arrogantly. "Or do you want to be beaten into the ground for real?"

Gulping, Gushizawa quickly fled down the open access door that lead down from the roof. No sooner had he disappeared from view did the trio hear a loud thump as if the gang leader had just ran into something. The something being a towering blond duelist sporting the Enforcer's uniform.

"So I take it that was the leader of this sorry bunch?" Jack inquired jerking a thumb back down the stairwell to the now unconscious lump on the ground.

"I doubt someone that pathetic could even be called a duelist." Kalin snorted before rounding on Will and slugging her in the shoulder.

"Ow! What was _that_ for?!" Will whined as she rubbed her sore arm.

"For becoming arrogant and stealing away the job of the leader by taking down another gang leader instead of leaving him for me!" Kallin replied although it was only half scolding.

Will rolled her eyes. So she had taken down more head honchos than Kalin during their quest for total control of Satellite, the end results were what mattered was it not? Even if he were partly joking, Kalin apparently took offense to Will stealing away his job of being The Enforcers' strongest duelist.

"Sorry about that, Kalin." Yusei spoke up looking crestfallen. "If I hadn't gotten into trouble…"

"Quit with the one man pity-party, Yusei!" Kalin cut in before the crab-haired duelist got going on one of his spiels. "We're friends and friends look out for each other!"

The serious look on Kalin's face suddenly morphed into one of satisfaction.

"Besides, we've finally done it! Satellite is now ours!" He cheered.

They had finally achieved their goal. After countless battles, both with duel gangs and with Sector Security, the small group had claimed the entire B.A.D Satellite Sector. At first, it had looked like a pipe dream but, through sheer determination, perserverance and faith in one another, they had done it.

What did not know, was that it was just the beginning of things to come...

* * *

 **Grey: A cliffy? Here?**

 **Free: We agreed, right? I unshackle you, you allow me to put in a cliffhanger at a suitable place**

 **Grey:...**

 **Free: Okay, folks, just review, favorite yada-yada. We don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! by the way and if you're curious about what the Lost Knights look like just put White Knight Chronicles into the Youtube engine to find out.**

 **Grey: You weren't supposed to tell them that. For that, you're to start work immediately on the next chapter!**

 **Free:...**

* * *

Assassin of the Ancient Shadows **  
**

Dark  
3  
500/500  
(Warrior/Effect) If this card is banished due to the effect of a "Lost Knight" or "Ark" card: destroy one monster your opponent controls.

Lost Knight Dinivas

Dark  
6  
2100/1000  
(Winged beast/Synchro/Effect) (Ark of Dinivas & 1 non tuner monster) If this card successfully destroys a monster: draw the top card from your deck. If it's a monster card: this card can attack again. Banish the drawn card.


	8. Breakup and Trouble!

**Grey: You know, when I said "start work _immediately_ " I didn't mean that literally.**

 **Free: I had nothing better to do.**

 **Grey: Not even your own fics?**

 **Free: Well, I did have a quarter of a chapter done for 'Gathering Darkness'-**

 **Grey: And?!**

 **Free: My laptop died.**

 **Grey: Oh…**

 **Free: Yeah...Over a hundred stories were written on it…to say nothing of the chapters, drafts and-**

 **Grey:ANYWAYS! Neither myself or Free own anything other than the words below. Enjoy!**

 **Free: And Luna says her _brother_ is loud…**

* * *

Kari was gasping as she reached the top floor of the building The Enforcers . She had no idea as to why they had to use such a building as a base even if half of the rooms had no extra doors or windows and had a good view of most of the B.A.D area which was now all theirs. What she did know was that her little lungs were not made for climbing nearly a dozen staircases just to see her big sister finish off Yusei's Junk Warrior with her Lost Knight Wizel.

Since the final turf battle days ago, with no more rival gangs to fight against, the member of The Enforcers had gone back to duelling against each other like they did when they first banded together to prepare themselves for the battle for all of B.A.D territory.

"Oh yeah! One hundred and eighty!" Will celebrated punching the air as the point counter on Yusei's duel disk went down to zero.

Yusei sighed as he reshuffled his deck. He had thought that he might have had a chance this time, but the bond he shared with his monsters once again paled when compared to that of the bonds Will shared with her own monsters.

"That's what you get for relying heavily on just a few cards, Yusei." Jack told the teen he saw as a younger brother. "You need to remember that that deck you made was built with your own hands. All those cards in there are cards you put in so you have to put faith in all of them not just that synchro monster you always use."

Yusei nodded absorbing the lesson like a sponge. Duelling wise, he was around the same level as Crow when it came to duelling and while he could hold his own against Kalin, he was still leagues behind Jack and Will.

"You talk of trusting your deck, Jack, but most of your wins are with your Red Dragon Archfiend." Will chuckled already shuffling her deck in preparation for her one hundred and eighty-first win.

"Red Dragon Archfiend is the manifestation of my soul, Will. And because I pour my soul into every duel I'm in, it's only natural that he should show himself." Jack proudly proclaimed as he took his place across from Will.

Seeing her sister was too engrossed in increasing her winning streak, Kari sighed and started to make her way back down the many staircases thinking of finding Itsuki and Annie and seeing if they wanted to do something not duel related.

"Getting tired of seeing your sister dominate the duel, are we?" Crow's voice flitted up to her from the bottom of the staircase she was descending.

"It's n-not so much that, Crow. I just w-want to sp-spend time with her without y-you guys all ar-round." Kari replied as she slipped passed the Blackwing user and down the next flight of stairs.

"Some good ol' sibling bonding, huh? I suppose we have been a little busy lately for you two to catch up on girly gossip and whatever it is girls do when together" Crow grinned as he followed after the petite pre-teen. "Wanna share with me since your sis is too busy increasing her undefeated streak? Or how's about we team up to build a deck capable of toppling her off her pedestal?"

Despite rolling her eyes at his questions, Kari could not help but giggle. As goofy as he was, Crow was pretty much her favorite person after her sister obviously and was secretly wondering when the two would quit beating around the scrap pile and get together like everyone was expecting them to. That aside, she doubted anyone could beat her sister even with inside help and all the best cards they had scavenged and won throughout Satellite.

Another thing that was nagging away at her was her sister's dragon card the Mirror Soul Dragon. She and her sister had lived and shared everything together yet the first time she had seen it was last week when up against Team Dirty Works.

"Hey! You're being quiet...well, quieter than usual." Crow prodded starting to sound worried. As much as he loved kids and watching out for them, there were some things he was not good with- such as crying little girls especially if they had an older sister that could give him a black eye or worse depending on big sister's mood.

"It's...n-nothing." Kari muttered focusing solely on making her way carefully down the stairs rather than the nosey magpie pecking at things that were not her business.

"Come on. It's better to confess to Uncle Crow than have your beloved sister persistently pester your personal space probing for the problem." Crow pointed out while mentally wondering if he could say what he just said three times fast.

Puffing up her cheeks in defeat, Kari half glared at Crow before speaking up about what was currently irritating.

"It's that d-dragon of hers. I've never s-seen it before now." Kari whined as they reached the bottom of another staircase. "Why has she shown it before now? I'm her sister and she kept it from me!"

Crow actually jumped back a step at her outburst. The only times he had ever seen the little redhead speak clearly were when she was dueling, tinkering or angry and when she was angry eardrums were ruptured and toes were crushed under the girl's boot- especially if using the heel of said boot.

"W-Well...all duelists need a few tricks up the sleeve as the saying goes, you know?" Crow pointed out. "Think about it, even though your sister pulls through with her knights, having cards like her dragon in reserve for emergencies- like your capture for example- can be crucial."

"But still…" Kari pouted evidently upset that Will refrained from showing her own sister her unique synchro monster.

"Don't sweat the small stuff, kiddo. A secret card or two is something all duelists have." Crow assured Kari with a pat on the head. "You'll understand when you're older."

Replying by puffing up her cheeks, Kari stomped outside the building while Crow began the trek back up all those staircases in hopes of getting in a duel himself before the day was over.

Any plans Kari was cooking up were quickly scratched from her mind as she stepped out into the the weak autumn sunlight to the sight of the Enforcer's leader picking on a kid from one of the duel gangs they had taken over the course of their quest. From the looks of things a duel had just taken place and Kalin had won although, from the way he was sneering at the boy, the older and supposedly more mature duelist had went all out with an overkill leaving the poor boy scared and upset.

"That was pathetic!" Kalin growled as he walked towards the defeated child looking like the duel had aggravated him to no end. "Trash like you needs to be taken out and dumped elsewhere!"

The teary eyed child was now suddenly fearing for his life. All he had wanted was to join the Enforcers and help them watch over Satellite while learning from them how to become a better duelist. He was not expecting the Enforcers' leader to duel him into the ground then be put into the ground himself by the looks of things. Paralysed with fear, he could only watch as Kalin approached him until his vision was blocked by a veil of red.

Blinking in surprise, Kalin eased up on his glare but still looked pretty angry as he now looked down at Kari who had placed herself between the victor and the defeated like a human barrier.

"What are you doing, Kari?!" Kalin demanded in a low voice.

"Th-That's m-my line!" Kari threw back the quiver in her voice making her stutter more pronounced.

"That loser you're protecting was holding out on me! He want's to be one of us but was too afraid to put everything he had into it!" Kalin explained loudly causing both kids to jump in fright.

"S-So? Nu-not all of us-s are as confi-fident as you when it c-comes to d-duels!" Kari argued back despite feeling like her buckling knees were about to give way at any minute. The Kalin she knew was always kind to her even if he was in a grouchy mood like Jack usually is when they were not duelling. The man standing before her now was no longer that person and it pretty much terrified her.

"The g-goal of the Enf-f-forcers is to u-unite and p-p-protect B.A.D wasn't it? T-to allow everyone t-to have fun d-duelling with-thout the r-risk of b-being apprehended by Security or the duel gangs running the sectors." Kari shouted back gaining more confidence in herself as she spoke. "The way you're acting now is no better than the creeps we beat!"

Never had the wind sounded so loud to Kari as she caught her breath. It was almost like it was singing the song of Death itself especially with the look Kalin was now giving her- unbridled fury at being insulted by a child.

"You have a big mouth on you, kid." Kalin said quietly sending shivers of dread up the little girl's spine. "Let me help you close it permanently!"

Raising his arm, it did not take much on Kari's end to realise what Kalin was about to do to her. Only the impeccable timing of Crow tackling Kalin to the ground from out of nowhere saved the two children from any bodily harm the Enforcer leader had in mind for them. He had been halfway up the building when he heard Kari and Kalin's argument and had rushed back down in time to prevent Kalin from making the biggest, and quite possibly last, mistake of his life.

"What the hell, Crow!?" Kalin snapped as he struggled against the red head's iron grip.

"That's my line! You got a death wish or something!?" Crow snapped back before turning to the boy still hiding behind Kari. "Beat it kid! This an 'executives only' meeting!"

Snapping out of his shock, the boy quickly scrambled away from the scene. By now the rest of the Enforcers, having heard the commotion also, had arrived and were now surrounding Kalin after Crow had finally released his hold on him.

"What are you doing, Kalin? This isn't why we banded together." Yusei pressed concernedly.

"Stuff your wise words, Yusei! We can't rule Satellite with weak duelists in our ranks so I decided to start removing the weeds poisoning our land!" Kalin threw back.

"Removing the weeds? That kid's barely older than Kari!" Crow snapped in Kalin's face.

"And she manages to hold her own against duelists twice her age even if she is a stuttering brat!"

"Kalin…" Will growled the knuckles of her left hand crackling under the clenched grip she had on it. "You're treading thin ice here. Pick your next words wisely."

Crow may have saved Kalin from getting pummeled to within an inch of his life when he stopped him from harming Kari but it looked like it was a useless waste as Kalin appeared to be digging himself a hole he had no chance of pulling himself out of.

Wisely, the Enforcer leader backed off but did not let up on his case.

"The point is: Satellite is ours now. That means we're gonna hafta build our ranks if we want to rule it properly while keeping Sector Security at bay!" Kalin pointed out looking at everyone to see if they finally realised what needed to happen now.

Everyone was silent as they stared at the man who had founded their little duel gang. They had all wished for a place where they could be free to do and duel as they pleased but only Kalin had the courage to actually voice what they were thinking which is what drew them to him in the first place. Now, it appeared that the man they usually saw as their friend and leader had lost himself to the green eyed monster known as greed and was now a shell of his former self.

Crow was the first to respond to Kalin's point. Without another thought, the Black-Wing specialist about faced and walked off with his hands in his pockets. He had joined the Enforcers because he wanted to see smiles etched onto little kids faces rather than than the bleak looks that filled their eyes.

As if waiting for someone else to take the first plunge, Jack quickly followed suit. He admired Kalin and the others for following their beliefs rather than their greed and would rather isolate himself than stick around a fool that would soon be blindly meeting his downfall.

Unlike the others, Yusei could not find it in himself to leave Kalin. The man had been there for him and saved him several times and he could not help but remain at his side if only to help him come round to his senses and hoped that Will was just the same. The apologetic look in her gaze as their eyes met, told him everything that was not said as the girl took hold of Kari's hand and walked off towards their home.

 _'Sorry, Yusei. But if I stick around I'll just make matters worse._ ' Will thought as she and Kari vacated the premises. She knew that, because she was a better duelist than Kalin, they were likely to have more and more heated arguments over leadership rites even at the most trivial of mutiny jokes which would likely end with her knocking out a few of Kalin's teeth then walking out soon after.

Staring at their retreating backs, Kalin was speechless. They had fought and banded together to survive all that Satellite had to throw at them only to betray him now that they had achieved their goal.

* * *

The next few days seemed to roll by both slowly and quickly in Will's opinion. News of the Enforcers disbandment had spread like wildfire causing a breakout of turf battles and other petty squabbles among the residents of B.A.D. As if things were not bad enough, Sector Security had finally increased their strength through the introduction of a Security Turbo Duel squad which soon began patrolling Satellite and adding more pandemonium to the mix as they started to make their presence known.

Despite having gone their own ways, Will kept in touch with the rest of the Enforcers former or otherwise. Jack now kept to himself in a large building which had the decor of an amphitheatre which no doubt fuelled the man's dream of being a king. Yusei, while remaining loyal to Kalin and sticking with the guy, had started to build another duel runner this one set to surpass her's and Crow's in both speed and performance although she would be the judge of that. As for Crow, the fellow redhead spent most of his time over the past few days either at Martha's, the woman who had raised Yusei, Jack and Crow among other orphans, or Daedalus bay helping to look after the kids.

Right now however, he was currently standing across from Will watching as his Blackwing- Bora the Spear took down her Lost Knight Adolmaea through Blackwing- Armor Master's effect to reduce the attack and defense any monster with a wedge counter to zero leaving her defenceless against his two Blackwings.

"I'll end my turn there, Will. Think you can come from behind this time?" He taunted his fellow redhead.

"Watch and learn, Beaky." Will replied although she put little heart into it.

Usually, a duel against Crow was uplifting and challenging given how his Blackwing deck's swarm capabilities could hard press even a tough duelist like herself at times. After what happened the other day, duelling right now just seemed to have lost its spark for her and it was beginning to worry Kari and Crow hence why he had challenged her to a duel to see if he could get her back to her usual self.

"Okay...draw." Will sighed drawing a card to bring her hand up to two: the monster card Ranger of the Ancient Night and the spell card- "I play Pot of Greed to draw two more cards."

One at a time, Will drew the two new cards and added them to her hand. One of them was a trap card only useful when her opponent was summoning a monster from their extra deck while the other was another Ancient monster card that would turn the tide of the duel in her favor.

"I'll now summon Ranger of the Ancient Night in attack mode." Will began placing the aforementioned card into a monster zone slot on her disk so that the purple haired archer appeared before her. "And next, I'll remove Lost Knight Adolmaea and Spearholder of the Ancient Land from the graveyard to special summon from my hand Mage of the Ancient Arts."

Beside the archer, a portal opened allowing for a spellcaster swathed in blue to step through.

Ranger of the Ancient Night: **(4 ATK/DEF: 1000/1500)**

Mage of the Ancient Arts: **(5 ATK/DEF:1700/1000)**

Unable to hold it in, Crow burst out laughing at the sight of the new monster. He had never seen Will play it before but could not help but notice something about it.

"I've heard of monsters channeling their controller's feelings but this takes the cake!" He chortled finding the similarities between the uninterested look the mage was sporting and Will's own face were too funny to pass up.

For the first time today, Will actually cracked a smile.

"You'll be changing your tune in a moment, Beaky. You see, if my mage and archer are on the field together, they get a boost to their attack points."

Stepping closer to the archer, the mage slammed the butt of his obsidian staff against the ground creating a spell circle that surrounded the two monsters.

Ranger of the Ancient Night: **(4 ATK/DEF:1000/1500-1500/1500)**

Mage of the Ancient Arts: **(5 ATK/DEF:1700/1000-2200/1000)**

As quickly as his happy mood came, it vanished as Crow glanced down at his life point counter which read 1500. He might not have known about the ability of the mage but the ability of the archer he was very familiar with.

"Need a reminder of my archer's ability, Crow? Or shall I just have her show you? Archer, ignore the birds and go straight for the featherduster with Piercing Shot!" Will ordered.

Brushing shoulders with the mage as she readied her bow, the archer gave Crow a serene smile before shooting him clean through the heart.

 _ **Crow: 0**_

"You gotta be kidding me!" Crow wailed into the sky as he pulled at his hair. "Even down in the dumps, I still can't beat you?!"

"T-tough luck, Crow." Kari consoled him as the monsters faded from existence.

"Cheers, kiddo." Crow thanked while patting Kari on the head before turning to the older sister. "I'm guessing that duel didn't help any?"

"Help with what?" Will threw back glumly making Crow want to pull his hair again.

"Good grief! Is there _anything_ I can do to make you crack a smile and not lose it within five seconds?!" Crow shouted skywards once more.

Kari thought for a moment before motioning to Crow to crouch down so that she could whisper in his ear.

"Wh-why not try a-asking her out on a d-date?" She suggested in hushed tones.

It took a second or three for Kari's words to register with Crow but only a fraction of that time for his face to light up so bad it clashed horribly with his hair. Sure they had flirted about with each other but, despite all that, neither of them had ever actually 'gone out' even with everyone else pressing them into it in subtle and obvious ways.

"Flirting's one thing, kiddo. Dating on the otherhand is a whole _new_ deck with different rules!" Crow hissed into Kari's ear as if he was talking about something that could end his life.

"Well, m-maybe something new would b-be the b-best way to get your m-minds off of what h-happened with K...K-Kalin." Kari pointed out hesitant on using the name of the guy who had almost attacked her.

"Yeah but…" Crow began trying to figure out how best to explain things to the little girl without scarring her for life. "Say this works and we get together. You do realise me and Will will be...you know…"

"I'm p-perfectly happy with you t-two getting together." Kari replied innocently leaving Crow sweat dropping at the naiviety of the girl despite living in the slums with the rest of them.

"...Right." Crow sighed patting Kari on the head as he stood up. He would let Will talk to Kari about the birds and the bees when that time came around.

Speaking of Will, the redhead had walked off with her hands in her pockets up the partially made Daedalus bridge. That duel with Crow had done little to raise her spirits, not that she was not grateful or anything, but she just could not remove this feeling of loneliness welling up inside of her now that she had quit the Enforcers.

She had taken up Kalin's offer of joining because she had always been one to put others before herself and helping Kalin to unify all of Satellite would be helping out a lot of people in Will's mind making the choice to join or decline a no brainer.

She had not regreted her choice as it gave her the chance to see just how skilled a duelist she was becoming and had introduced her to Crow whom she had bonded with instantly when she saw the fellow redhead cheer up Kari who had been down at the time because Sector Security had been by and all but flattened their makeshift home while looking for cards and duel disks.

And while she got better aquainted with Crow, Kari had been getting more chummy with Yusei given how she was a junior gearhead whereas Yusei always had his head between gears outside of turf battles. It was unsure whether her little sister was getting a cruch on the crab haired teen but Will really hoped it would pass and that she found someone around her age sooner rather than later- Dear Lord, she was starting to sound like a parent now that she had quit her day job.

"I thought it was your Knights that were supposed to be lost not you."

Letting out a rather girly ' _kya_ ' when she was startled, Will whipped round to glare at Crow who was trying hard not to laugh at her blushing face.

"You have five seconds to say sorry or make yourself disappear, Beaky, before I do it for you." Will growled embarrassed at herself for sounding so girly in front of Crow feeling like shoving him off the end of the unfinished bridge regardless of what choice he made.

"Cool your engines, Red. Your secret's safe with me." Crow assured her without losing his grin.

Will huffed in annoyance before looking back out to sea towards New Domino far in the distance. Seeing how she had gone back into her lost world, Crow inwardly sighed as he racked his mind for something to talk to her about.

"I ever tell you the story about the guy who tried to leave Satellite?" He asked after a while of just watching the waves crash and the tide change.

"I've heard the rumors. It was back when duel runners just came out and Zero Reverse had not long happened, right?" Will inquired feeling curious despite herself.

Zero Reverse. The name given to the event that had happened seventeen years ago that tore the original city of Domino in two when the first experimental Ener-D reactor went critical. In it's wake, what was left of Domino city and its mass of victims became Satellite while across the gapping chasm that gradually filled with seawater when the tides finally settled New Domino city was constructed with no attempts made to rescue any of the survivers from the now marooned island other than to install an underwater tunnel spanning the distance between to ship out New Domino City's waste material.

Will and her family were lucky to survive the calamity along with many others but that luck was short lived not long after Kari had been born when a group of thugs went on an arsenic spree looking for food. A ruptured gas canister and a spark was all it took for their run down shack of a home to go up like a bonfire leaving Will and her badly burned baby sister on their own.

"Some guy decided to up and leave Satellite and started to make a bridge capable of leading right over to New Domino." Crow began tapping the floorboard beneath him. "Thus, the Daedalus bridge came into existence."

"He made all this by himself?" Will blinked looking down at the construction beneath her feet in disbelief having thought of it as some makeshift ramp for some dumb-ass rider to play Evil Kinevile on- or perhaps to use in a prank on Sector Security.

"Course not. See, as he kept on going making the first foundations, people from around Domino saw what he was doing. While they were skeptic at first, they soon began helping out- whether they wanted to leave also or just wanted to distract themselves from reality is up for grabs though." Crow added.

Will could not help but believe it was the former. Seeing the tall skyscrapers off in the distance, she could just imagine other people standing here or on the shore longing to be back in civilization and would be willing to get their hands dirty to do so if not for them then definitely for their children. Heck, she would not have been surprised if folk of all ages had worked as one in the hopes of reaching New Domino.

"What stopped them?" Will asked although she already knew the answer.

"Sector Security- Well, those who control Sector Secturity I suppose." Crow sighed. "They didn't want us Satellite Scum from tainting their paradise or something so they shipped over the first batch of Security goons to dissuade the people from building the bridge."

"And when they didn't give up, they went after the guy who started this whole thing." Will finished sadly.

"Yeah. Even when others gave up, he kept on building. He never gave up even when they came after him." Crow said staring wistfully into the sky. "Instead of giving up, he kicked his runner into high gear and shot towards New Domino."

Will blinked before looking at Crow with a look that clearly said 'are you kidding me?'.

"So you're saying he used this half built bridge as a ramp and tried to jump the ocean towards Stuck-up City?" She asked him. "Even if his runner was kitted out similar to your Blackbird, I doubt he made it even half way."

"Maybe, but I wanna believe that he made it." Crow admitted. "He never gave up on his desire to break free of this place and live his life his way. And even if he didn't make it, part of me wishes it to be possible."

Will's less than positive mood sank a good few feet below the waves. She had been enjoying this moment between herself and Crow but him now spouting sewage killed the mood.

"Get your head out of the clouds, Beaky." Will muttered as she made her way back down the unfinished bridge. "We're stuck here for life. No matter what we do or believe, we're just like the rest of the trash New Domino gives us and nothing short of a miracle's gonna change that."

"And what if that miracle does happen?!" Crow called out after the redhead.

"I'll kiss you square on the lips!" Will snapped back without looking.

Even if Crow had enough common sense to counter Will's remark, nothing was said as an explosion sounded in the distance. As the smoke rose in an ominous fashion into the waning blue sky, the Black-Wing wielder felt his blood run cold as his memory told him that, unless he was mistaken, the ground zero of that blast was a Sector Security outpost.

* * *

 **Grey: A cliffy?! _Here_ of all places?!**

 **Free: What? it was longer than expected so I figured cutting it off here would leave the readers in suspense.**

 **Grey:...Fine. I let you have your way- this time. Hope you liked it readers & don't worry. I'll make sure my 'partner' finishes this mess. For now, Like & Review & until next time, watch this space & peace out!**

 **Free: Hey! That's my line!**

 **Grey: You didn't put a copyright claim on it (sticks out tongue at Free before running off)**

* * *

Mage of the Ancient Arts

Dark  
5  
1700/1000  
( _Spellcaster/Effect_ ) You can banish two cards from your graveyard to special summon this monster. When on the field with Ranger of the ancient night, both card's attack and defense points are increased by 500.


	9. Dreams and Abduction!

**Grey: I'm getting the feeling that you really did need some new blood...**

 **Free: I told you. Motivation is a really hard thing to kickstart after it dries up...**

 **Grey:Or rots like the Hudson?**

 **Free: let's not go there..**.

* * *

Whether used to the pouring rain or just pure ignorant of the heavy downpour, Will payed no heed to the dark turn of the evening weather as she ran through the flooding streets of Satellite in search of her target.

It turned out that the Sector Security branch office in their area had been the target of a bombing attack. Acting like an innocent but curious little girl, Kari had managed to get information on what had happened and who had been stupid enough to kick a dragon while it slept as the saying went. While New Domino city's finest did not catch the culprit in the act of setting off the explosion, they did manage to catch sight of a male in their late teens to early twenties with silvery white hair wearing a bandana and a sleeveless, brown bomber jacket.

As if that was not evidence enough that the Enforcers' leader had finally went off the deep end and landed himself in some serious trouble, Will, Kari and Crow were then visited by a breathless and clearly distressed Yusei that Kalin had disappeared from their old base not long before the explosion. After finding Jack and bringing him up to speed on the situation, the entire Enforcer's gang went out in force to find their wayward leader before Sector Security could put the cuffs on him. Even despite their differences and past arguments, Kalin was still their friend and they were not going to just sit back and watch the guy get carted off to the Faculty.

The only trouble was, nobody knew where Kalin was and not only was B.A.D Area quite large but they had to search while also avoid Sector Security who was out in full force for the arsonist also.

Fortunately, luck, while usually rare to a resident of Satellite, was with them this night. Receiving a tip off from one of their more trustworthy sources, Will, Yusei and the others surrounded the deranged leader of the Enforcers who was looking mighty pleased to see them as if expecting them to show up.

"About time you guys showed up!" Kalin grinned almost feral-like making Will glad she had told Kari to stay home and keep the doors locked until she returned.

"Well, when you declare full out war with Security, we'd be pretty mad not to try and stop you from becoming the Faculty's latest tenant." Crow growled wanting nothing more than to literally knock some sense into the guy.

Kalin blinked in surprise. Apparently he was more deranged than any of them thought as it looked like he had been expecting them to show up and aid him in taking down Sector Security once and for all as disbelieving as that sounded. That, or he had not expected all of Sector Security to come after him.

"Don't be stupid, Crow! There's no way we can take on all of Sector Security at once!" Kalin scolded the red head. "They may be many but, if we take 'em down bit by bit like we did the duel gangs, we can easily show them who's boss!"

"You spout all this 'we' stuff but nobody here's wanting to go along with this hair brained scheme of yours!" Crow snapped back kept from just running over and slugging Kalin right in the face by Jack holding onto the collar of his jacket while Yusei stood between the two.

"Let's save this discussion for later. Right now, we need to get out of here and get back to our hideout." Yusei told them. "Until the heat dies down, we're going to have to lay low."

"We may not have the chance to hide under a rock, Yusei." Will said as she glanced out the window her vision full of red and blue lights.

Whether by luck or snitch, the very people the Enforcers were discussing were now literally at their front door along with every other way in or out around the building by the sound of things. It was safe to say the building was lit up like a christmas tree with the all the lights centering on it.

"Satellite scum! Remove your duel disks and come out with your hands above your head!"

"What, no 'We have you surrounded! Give yourselves up!' junk or something?" Will commented although she said it quietly in case one of the Security goofs heard her.

"Let's go then." Kalin ordered assuming his rightful role as leader of the Enforcers the feral smile still fixed on his face. "They're just like Non-Security: all quantity no quality!"

"Whereas you're all brawn no brain." Will retorted flippantly as she turned to Yusei. "What's the plan, Yusei?"

Ignoring the seething Kalin, who was looking almost apocalyptic at being turned down in favour of a duelist half his caliber, all heads turned to Yusei whose mind was clearly sharper than his duelling skills.

"We go with Kalin's idea." Yusei said causing everyone to go slack jawed. "Like he said: they're big in numbers but nothing else for the most of them. If we split up, we should be able to slip by with little difficulty and meet back at the hideout."

"For a second, I thought your gears had been going in the opposite direction." Will sighed in relief once Yusei properly explained his plan.

Nobody, not even Will herself, grinned at her joke. The situation was too serious for humor even if the jokesters of the team brought out their best gags. Humor aside, the crew quickly divided into two teams: Will and Yusei taking a roof top exit while Crow, Jack and Kalin took an underground route from the basement level.

Will however, was having nagging doubts about Yusei's choice of groupings and was quick to voice them the moment they were alone.

"You sure putting those three together was the brightest of moves?" She asked her travelling companion. They both knew that Crow tended to butt heads with Jack on occasion to say nothing about the current tension between the trickster and Kalin. It was nearly akin to dropping a coin onto a sea of mousetraps and expecting none of the traps to go off.

"Don't worry. They'll be fine." Yusei assured her.

"How can you be so sure?" Will pressed her doubts unsubsiding at her friend's words before the penny, along with her stomach, dropped as realisation dawned on her. "You're not gonna do what I think you're gonna do, are you?"

Yusei's silence spoke volumes as the techy teen made a detour from their destination and now made his way towards the front door of the building. Will was having none of it showing it by stepping in front of Yusei and grabbing the collar of his jacket.

"Are you frickin insane?! You turn yourself in, you'll get a free trip to the Faculty with free room and board with a free tattoo job thrown in to boot!" Will snarled in Yusei's face. "And that's without adding whatever those Security jerks do to their tenants whenever they get bored of playing lord of the manor!"

There was cold harsh truth in her words. The Faculty was a blunt term supposed to sugarcoat the fact that the place was nothing more than a prison built in the remains of the old Domino city where New Domino had been built directly over. While it did house inmates caught on the mainland, a good portion of those inmates were from Satellite who were treated the worst out of all the inmates both from fellow inmates and landlords.

"Which is why I'm going to take the fall for Kalin." Yusei finally spoke. "We both know, in his current state of mind, Kalin will be lucky to last a week before breaking."

"Yeah, but…" Will tried to argue back but unable to find the proper words to pull Yusei out of his insane idea.

"Will. One of us has to take the fall here. It's the only way any of us is going to get out of here." Yusei pressed. "We both know Crow and Jack are likely to get themselves into brawls if either of them do it. And if you were to go, Kari will never forgive the rest of us for as long as she lived- and you know all of us, including Kalin, want nothing more than to see her live a long and better life than the rest of us."

"Don't you dare start trying to sugarcoat things!" Will warned him lifting Yusei clean off his feet. "We're all getting out of here tonight!-Everyone! And...and tomorrow...we're gonna _beat_ sense back into Kalin's head!"

Will was clutching at straws and she knew it. No matter how much it could be brushed off or denied, after Kari, Yusei was considered the lowest on the Enforcer totem pole even though he was at the top when it came to maths and engineering. For Yusei to offer himself up as the Enforcer's scapegoat, it really was one of their worst days even with all that had happened to them before now.

Not only that, but just looking at her friend's face told Will that Yusei had resigned himself to what was to come awhile back maybe even since the Enforcers went their separate ways. And while Yusei was the more level headed of the guys, he was still as stubborn and set in his ways as the rest of them.

"Will…" Yusei sighed clasping hold of Will's hands and forced her to lower him to his feet. "It's the only way."

Will was silent. Ever since losing her parents, being helpless was like a lead weight in her stomach forcing her to do whatever she could to help out others even if those she helped either did not want it or want her helping her. To now watch helplessly as her friend took the fall for the stupidity of Kalin, she was almost tempted to start a ruckus with Sector Security to allow Yusei to get away were it not for the worrying possibility of how Kari would take the news that she was not going to be around for a while.

"When you find the others, tell them what's happened would you?" Yusei asked as Will's hands slackened their grip allowing him to finally pull free from her clutches.

"Yusei!" Will called out as her friend started to walk off again. "When you get out, you better still be yourself- at least until I get my hands on you."

To her surprise, Yusei cracked a grin at her. Not a forced one but a real grin as if confident in himself that he would be fine along with the fact that she was being her usual self. Then again, Yusei was always going on about the bonds between friends and cards and what not so Will reckoned he was going to 'draw' on that to help him get through his little holiday at the Faculty. While she could sort of relate when it came to a duellist and their personalised deck, there were some things even she could not understand.

Letting all the troubles escape her as she exhaled, Will quickly followed after Yusei and gave him a hard slap on the back as she fell in step beside him.

"Let's go, carriage awaits." She grinned as she watched Yusei stumble forward from the force of her unexpected blow.

Asides wincing from the stinging sensation in his back, Yusei gave Will a grateful smile for still sticking around to watch his back as he kept walking towards the blaring blue and red lights coming in through the front of the building. If either of them wanted to back down from the plan, they were now passed the point of no return.

* * *

Officer Galahad's eyes were reduced to mere slits as he squinted at the two Satellite gangsters stepped out of the dilapidated building with their hands above their heads. They might be harmless to the untrained eye but Sattelite scum were never honest even to themselves. Still, he had the might of his entire Security regiment behind him so if they even thought of trying something, they would be locked up and shipped off to the Faculty before they could draw breath let alone their starting hand.

"Stop right there, Satellites!" He ordered the two once he reckoned they were far enough away from the building but still a safe distance from him and his men.

The female Satellite complied but the crab haired, male Satellite walked forward a few extra steps before stopping also.

"You're looking for me, aren't you? The leader of our duel gang?" The male Satellite called out to him. "Well here I am. I'm here to give myself up."

Galahad raised an eyebrow as he stared at the male Satellite. Apparently the Satellite took his silence for disbelief for he walked right up to him not even thinking about all the armed men tensing up and getting ready to pounce should the crab try to harm him.

"What's wrong? You got cold feet all of a sudden now that I'm here turning myself in?" The Satellite crab inquired in a level voice although Galahad could hear the taunting tone in his voice. "I just admitted that I'm the guy you're after."

"I hear you, Sattelite. And we are here for the leader of your duel gang- but you ain't him." Galahad told him while thumbing over to his right.

Complying with his gesture, the two Satellites turned stare in shock at the sight of their white haired leader cuffed up and in the hands of two of Galahad's men with another four keeping the tall blond and walking broomstick Satellites from trying to free him. The only thing the Satellite's ever had going for them were numbers. Use a _little_ mental muscle and they were easy to detain.

And now to sever the ties they had.

"Thanks for your cooperation, Satellite." Galahad 'thanked' the crab taking hold of the Satellite's hand while he was still in shock. He made sure he had raised his voice enough for the Satellite gang leader to hear and sure enough-

"Yusei, you bastard! You sold me out!?" He snarled fighting against Galahad's men with a strength they nearly had trouble restraining. "I thought you were my friend! I'll never forgive you! You hear me!?"

Content with the dis arrest he had sown into the gang's ranks, Galahad signalled for his men to move out taking the still struggling Satellite with them leaving the shocked and stunned Satellite scum reeling from their defeat at the hands of true justice.

* * *

"I can't believe those jerks!" Will snapped ramming her fist into the wall of her home leaving a decent sized crater after she finally pried her hand out of the wall. "And they say we're manipulative and cheating scum! New Domino must have no mirrors or something!"

Finally rid of her pent up anger, Will collapsed onto her bed feeling a lot more tired than when she first returned half an hour ago. Thankfully, Kari had sensed her older sister's frustration and wisely disappeared to check up with the others while Will ' _renovated'_ their home with her bare hands.

"Is it s-safe to come in now?" The young girl's voice timidly called in from just behind the doorway.

No matter how angry she was, Will could not help but feel better the moment she heard her little sister's voice. Since their parents' death, Kari had been Will's anchor the one thing, the only thing that kept her going in this God awful land cut off from and looked down upon by the rest of the world. She was literally living up to her name which meant ' _light_ ' in english.

"A little…" Will admitted as Kari finally appeared in the doorway.

"I l-like what you d-did with th-the place." Kari tried to comment lightly although it was clear she was upset herself with the way things had turned out tonight.

True, she was afraid of Kalin for how dark he he was suddenly becoming but it did not mean that she hated him or wanted him put away. She was hoping that Kalin would come back to them and ask for their forgiveness and help in restoring order to B.A.D. like how the Enforcers were supposed to have done before everything went south.

Sitting up, Will made a motion with her finger to Kari to come over to which the younger sister complyed by almost tackling Will in a hug sending both back onto the bed in a pile. Ignoring the slight pain in her ribs, Will hugged Kari tightly as she felt her eyelids start to slide shut as fatigue finally began to win its battle against her.

* * *

 _The first thing Will noticed when she stirred was that it was cold like Winter had snuck up on B.A.D. without them knowing. Scratch that, it was colder than Satellite in Winter- and the only heating they had were bin fires unless Yusei could rig up a heater that would not blow up on them sooner or later._

 _Unable to ignore it any longer, Will opened her eyes only to find herself not in B.A.D. nor in Satellite altogether. Jumping to her feet, Will paid no attention to the frozen blades of grass crunching under her boots as she stared in awe and fear at the winter wonderland she had somehow ended up in. It felt like another world but, at the same time, it was real._

 _One part of her was amazed to find herself in a forest- a real forest- while the other part wondered how she had gotten here and if there was any way for her to get back to Kari and the others._

 _"Helloooooooooo-oh!" She called out shivering as her voice seemed to echo off of anything and everything._

 ** _I've finally gotten through to you…_**

 _Will spun full circle as she tried to pin where the voice was coming from. It seemed to come from everywhere at once but there was no sign of the speaker anywhere._

 _"Who's there?!" Will asked cautiously. "Are you the one that brought me here-wherever here is?"_

 ** _This is the Spirit World where all duel monsters reside…_**

 ** _This place used to be a place of peace, where all duel monsters resided in harmony among one another...until…_**

 _"Until what? Is something happening here?" Will asked._

 ** _A darkness is spreading throughout our lands even as we speak…_**

 ** _Soon...this same darkness shall spread to your own world as well…_**

 _Too absorbed in what she was being told, Will never noticed that the coldness had not seeped into her skin until the voice's words reached her. The mere mention of the word darkness finally made her body recognise just how far below room temperature this world was in._

 ** _In your world, there is a girl, pure of heart, whose destiny is to save our world…_**

 ** _She is still but a child right now...protect her until the time comes…_**

 _Will was about to ask what the voice was going on about when the winds suddenly picked up nearly knocking her over as she tried to see through the gale force white out. Unable to see, hear, even speak, Will could only flail her arms around in an attempt to find something to cling to before finally being pulled off the ground to who knows where this time._

* * *

Kari sat up in fright the moment she heard something heavy land on the floor by her bed. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, Kari leaned over the edge of the bed to stare at her sister as she tried desperately to separate herself from the covers she was tangled in. It would be amusing if not for the scared look etched onto her older sister's face as if still half living a nightmare.

Scrambling from the bed, Kari helped Will free herself from the blankets before literally slapping the older sister back to reality. Finally snapped out of it, Will inhaled deeply while bringing a shaking hand to her face pressing the cold palm into her forehead which was burning despite shaking from a cold sweat.

"A-are you a-all r-right?" Kari asked worriedly taking the blanket and using it to wipe at Will's face to get the sweat off before she ended up getting a cold.

"I'm _fine!"_ Will barked wincing as the volume and hardness nearly deafened her to say nothing of the shock and hurt Kari felt at being snapped at by her sister. "Sorry...I just…"

"It's okay." Kari brushed off although it was clear she was hurt. "I'm gonna go find Annie and Itsuki. You rest up for now or at least take it easy."

"Wait! Kari!" Will called out after the retreating girl fumbling in standing up only to trip over the blanket to land flat on her face as she tried to follow her sister.

Groaning, Will slowly got to her feet and managed to reach the doorway but by that time, Kari was long gone and being a resident of B.A.D. meant she knew a number of hidey holes to curl up in when she wanted no one to find her including Will herself.

"Just what I need…" Will groaned as she rested against the doorframe. "This morning can't get any worse."

"Will? Are you okay there?"

"It just got worse…" Will muttered sourly as she turned to face Crow who was looking at her in concern as he approached her.

"Man, you are not looking good this morning." Crow commented obliviously.

"I've had a bad time, Crow. Kalin get's sent to the slammer; Yusei feels like he's let everyone down even though he was just used by that Security jerk and last night I had this stranger than strange dream I was in this place called the ' _Spirit World_ ' and I had to look after this girl who is supposed to save it whatever the hell that means!" Will snapped glaring at the featherhead as if he was the cause of all her troubles. "And just now, I sent Kari running off no doubt crying because I couldn't stop myself."

Crow could only whistle as he listened to Will explain her bad day- and it was not even noon yet.

"'Spirit World'? I thought Yusei would be sniffing fumes given how often he's working on something." He joked only to back away when Will glared at him, "Okay. Okay. Bad joke- sorry...You sure it wasn't just a bad dream relating to the state of Satellite and that Kari's the one who'll brighten the place up or something?"

Will could only give Crow a look that all but said " _don't be daft, Beaky_ " causing the redhead to raise his palms in peace and surrender. As strange as it sounded, Will knew her dream was no dream and there really was a child out there she had to help. The only trouble being, she knew no girl other than Kari who fit the description and she was stuck on some rock out at sea.

Growling to herself, Will knew that this was not the time to be thinking about strange dreams when there were other waters to calm- such as the ocean of grief Kari was likely in because of her.

"Look, Beaky...can we just focus on finding Kari for now, please?" Will asked almost pleadingly.

In any other situation, Crow would have found this the perfect opportunity to tease Will. However, given how bad she looked among other things, the trickster quickly agreed to help her find Kari.

"Okay, I'll go find Yusei and Jack and we'll start searching for Kari. There's talk of some strange folk walking about this morning and they're definitely not from Satellite." Crow told her.

Nodding in thanks, Will quickly grabbed her duel disk before darting off in one direction while Crow headed off in another. She was already worried for Kari but after being told that there were people not from Satellite walking the streets she was even more desperate to find Kari especially before they did.

"Excuse me!"

The man appeared before Will so suddenly, Will almost did not have any time to stop before ploughing into him. Fortunately, while deeply worried for Kari, Will still managed to keep her mind and wits about her and managed to stop herself in time although she did kick up an impressive cloud of dust that smothered the stranger for a second.

"What the hell?! You trying to get flattened, buddy?!" Will snarled not in the mood for small talk with strangers with her sister out there lost and easy prey for others.

"My...My apologies!" The stranger coughed patting the dust from his suit. "I just wondered if I could have a moment of your time."

"No. Not now. Not ever." Will replied trying to move round the stranger only for the stranger to block her path.

"But I could not help but overhear you mention something about the Spirit World to your friend earlier." The stranger said now grabbing Will's full attention.

"Listen, mister. I'm in a bad mood and in a hurry." Will growled activating her duel disk as she reached for her deck at her waist.

"As am I. And I have no time for petty duels." The stranger agreed drawing a blue framed card from his own deck and held it up for Will to see. "Brain Control!"

For a second, Will had thought the stranger had no clue as how to play the game. That was until a splitting pain erupted inside of her head causing her to drop her deck as she clasped her head.

"It's pointless." She heard the stranger say as he walked towards her. "No one can withstand my psychic powers. You. Are now. _Mine"_

Feeling the darkness overpower her, Will could only pray that Crow and the others had found Kari before being smothered by the darkness.

* * *

 **Free:Sorry. No duels today.**

 **Grey: Yeah, but we both know how to keep you all begging...wanna see the next chapter? Huh? Do ya?**

 **Free: Don't tease the readers...**

 **Grey:Ah you're no fun...Anyway neither of us own Yugioh! If I did-**

 **Free,:You would slowly descend into money fuled madness?**

 **Grey:How'd ya know?**

 **Free:Lucky guess...**


	10. Spirit wake up!

**Grey: Well, I gotta say this one was much quicker. What brought this on?**

 **Free: Got bored of hunting Fallen, Hive, Vex, Cabal & Taken on Destiny.**

 **Grey: Wanted to give your ' _Light_ ' some time to recharge?**

 **Free: No I just finished maxing all my Hunter subclasses. Things get boring once you do that.**

 **Grey: Well then, ' _Guardian_ ', care to do the honors today?**

 **Free: Neither of us own YGO just the words below**.

* * *

"The subject is waking up."

"Good. Once she's stable, begin the brainwashing treatment and this time double it. We're going to need a stronger output to make sure my diamond in the rough stays under my control whenever she runs into any old acquaintances she has."

"Are you sure that is wise, Sayer?"

"Just by coming into contact with New Domino's new champion, the brainwashing started to wear off. In order to prevent any repeat performances down the road, we need to push things passed the limitations we put up."

"But...the last time we tried going beyond the safety measures with the brainwashing…"

"You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, Sierra. Besides, that boy was weak and barely had any psychic powers compared to Akiza. Whereas my diamond here is from Satellite and made of tougher stuff."

"That does not mean we should ignore the safety parameters!"

"To a certain extent, I'm not worried about the dangers involved in this. However, if the brainwashing wears off on my diamond...Let's just say she'll be like my rose when she loses it only without the unstable psychic power storm."

As her mind drifted in and out of consciousness, Will barely recognised the voices of Sayer and that nurse woman who helped dress her injuries during her duel with Akiza. It was all starting to come back to her. Her past…Her friends…Her sister!- And then Sayer came along and took her away from all that she had just for his own personal agenda...

"Fine! Place her in a cell and monitor her health. The moment she's stable enough, we're putting her back under." She heard Sayer order Sierra although his voice seemed to be getting further and further away as she slipped into unconsciousness. "In the meantime…

* * *

When she regained consciousness again, Will knew that she had been moved somewhere as her body felt comfy rather than still but she dared not open her eyes as the nurse was still hovering around her.

"...keeps happening, it could be fatal." She heard Sierra sigh sadly. "I know it's all for the sake of research but...how can all this be worth it? And after we vowed to not make the same mistake as before…"

Cracking one eye open slightly as she heard the hiss of her cell door slide open, Will watched as a troubled Sierra left the room leaving her alone in the rather homey looking cell. Guess even if Sayer wanted his pawns to be obedient vegetables, he made sure they had some comforts. But when you come from Satellite, anything with a warm comfy bed was a five star luxury.

Now alone, Will wasted no time in pulling herself to her feet and stumble over to the large mirror like window that allowed her to see into the next room over. Asides feeling stiff and sore from her nap and duel with Akiza, Will noticed that her hair had grown and she was sure she had gained an inch or two since Sayer had kidnapped her.

"Jeez, girl...You have been through _hell_." She muttered pressing her head against the cold glass as questions ran through her head a mile a minute.

How long had she been here? What had Sayer done to her? Was Kari safe? Did Crow and the others find her? Was everyone okay? Was Kalin back? Was he back to normal for that matter? Was-

 _...please…_

Jumping backwards in shock, Will felt like she almost twisted her head off as she looked round for that invisible person speaking to her.

 _...somebody please help me._

There it was again! It was like deja vu of that strange dream just before she got abducted only this time the voice was much younger like that of-

"No way!" Will nearly swore as she remembered the voice from the frozen forest and what she had been told.

Scrambling over to the bed, Will lay down and closed her eyes in the hopes of hearing the girl's voice more clearly.

 _Would somebody please help me? I'm being held prisoner in the Spirit World._

 _Can anybody hear me? Please…_

Okay, so this child she was to help was now in the spirit world. The only trouble being, she was stuck here in the real world. How was she supposed to save her if they were literally worlds apart?

* * *

Opening her eyes, Will swore there must be something wrong with her. One minute ago she was lying down on her bed listening to a girl's s.o.s. call, now she was standing in the middle of a green forest. Perhaps all that psychic mumbo jumbo coupled with that blow she got from Akiza's Black Rose Dragon really did do something to her.

"I've gone and stepped into a fairytale…" Will muttered as she scratched the back of her head in frustration. "Okay...I've somehow gotten myself back into the Spirit World...guess I should at least _try_ to find this girl I'm supposed to rescue...although how exactly I'll do that when all I've got is this uniform. No deck, no disk… I'm not Yusei but I'm pretty sure I could use my head if I knew just how badly Sayer scrambled my eggs…"

Trailing off as she began walking in one random direction, Will was pretty sure she was lost before taking even five steps forward. It was only when the light caught off of something on the ground did Will actually take a proper her look at her surroundings.

While most the trees were towering oaks, every now and again, there was a small sapling with a strange staff stuck in the ground. The staff was nothing special, similar to those used by spellcaster-type monsters although the size signified that they might be used by apprentice and kid mages. What caught Will's eye were the two horizontal needles of black metal near the top of the staff pinned on top of one another. Wondering if someone had deliberately attempted to sabotage the staff, Will tentatively tapped the needles knocking the top one so that it resembled an English Cross like she had seen in a damaged book once.

In a flash of light, Will suddenly found herself sprawled in front of a towering oak. Stunned, Will scrambled to her feet and cautiously shifted the needles so that they were overlaying one another again. Now more prepared, Will watched in amazement as the oak reverted back into a sapling again.

"Weird…" Will uttered as she picked up the staff.

Her knowledge of Duel Monsters was not extensive but she was sure a magic or trap card of this staff would have been popular especially among Sector Security when detaining people like herself and judging by the number of these staffs littering the forest, she doubted it was a rare card. Whatever this staff was, it was restricted only to the Spirit World by the looks of things but for what purpose other than rewinding tree growth was beyond her.

"Okay...I'm now armed." Will muttered as she twirled the staff in her hand. "Dunno how dangerous that makes me though…"

"Put it this way: just having it in your hands makes you my enemy." A voice behind Will spoke out causing the duellist to tense up. "That being said...Hands where I can see them."

Raising her hands in surrender, Will turned to face her detainer only to find her jaw go slack as she instantly recognised the girl standing before her with bow primed and aimed at her face.

"Ranger of the Ancient Night?" She blurted out before she could stop herself.

This was the wrong thing to say as Ranger of the Ancient Night frowned at Will. Were their card names taboo in this world or something?

"Been awhile since I heard someone call me that." She admitted although she kept her bow trained on Will. "The last time was just two years ago. Just before my Master _abandoned_ me and the rest of my friends."

Will's mind was going a mile a minute. While the fact that she had been under for nearly two years was not lost on her, the real kicker was her being in another world having a heart to heart with a Duel Monster. A Duel Monster she owned. A Duel Monster who was deadly with a bow that was currently aimed at her!

 _'First things first, girl. Convince her you're here to help not hurt'_ Will thought to herself trying to think of a way to get the Warrior-type to lower the weapon. Recalling what she had just been told, Will recalled what she had been doing just before Sayer came and took her away from her life.

She had quit the Enforcers; she had snapped at Kari and made her run off; she went out looking for Kari; Kalin finally _flipped_ ; Crow talked about how the bridge was started right after-

 _'That's it!_ ' "The last time you came to the Real World, it was to fight against against Blackwing monsters alongside Mage of the Ancient Arts." Will told the archer slowly not wanting to find out just how good her monster was with a bow. "Using his ability to boost your...strength, you took out the Blackwings' master with one shot."

She was suddenly having second thoughts when Ranger of the Ancient Night took several steps back now looking more defensive than ever.

"Okay, you're starting to creep me out here!" Ranger of the Ancient Night growled. "Either you start explaining how you know so much about me or I turn you into a _pincushion_ before sending you back to the Ape King!"

"The who?- Never mind that! The reason I know that is because, and this might come as a shock to you...I was the one who summoned you. I'm your master I suppose...although I use that term lightly." Will finished lamely.

Ranger of the Ancient Night stared at Will as if she had an extra head- or whatever counted as strange in the Spirit World rather. Then she stared at her as if looking at her properly for the first time. All Will could do in response was pray in her mind that the archer either believed her or at least lowered the bow. She had been given points in things before but getting the point _literally_ was something she would rather not experience.

"You're…? Are you really…? But how can this be?" She muttered out loud.

"Do you think we could talk without the bow between us?" Will asked cautiously, starting to break out in a sweat as the Ranger's bow remained pointed at her as the wielder went on a mental bout of twenty questions.

"Hm? Oh!" Realising she was still aiming at Will, Ranger of the Ancient Night _finally_ lowered her bow.

Now finally out of the firing line, Will breathed a sigh of relief only to have the breath knocked out of her when Ranger of the Ancient Night roughly grabbed her and threw her into the base of the nearest tree.

"What the hell are you doing here? Why have you ignored us for so long?" The Duel Monster demanded of her former master.

"I haven't!" Will gasped around the forearm Ranger of the Ancient Night had pressed against her throat. "Some prick with a perm kidnapped me and tried to turn me into doll for his sick schemes! I only just came around!"

Ranger of the Ancient Night looked to be having none of it and was going to grill Will some more when the sound of a twig snapping echoed in her ears. Releasing Will, the purple haired archer cautiously poked her head around the base of the tree and quickly pulled back now looking worried.

"Keep quiet and follow me!" She ordered in a whisper.

Will wanted to ask what was wrong but wisely kept quiet as the sound of another twig snapping reached their ears. Deciding to do what she was told, Will followed after Ranger of the Ancient Night at a crouch cautiously going from tree to tree or large bush taking care not to disturb the foliage or be too loud to alert who or _whatever_ was nearby.

Eventually, the two girls came upon a large, closed castle gate once powered via a water wheel connected to a nearby stream before the water had dried up.

"How are we gonna get through?" Will asked, not seeing any holes in the wall or ropes dangling from the ramparts.

"You're holding the key." Ranger of the Ancient Night, replied pointing to the staff Will still held in her hand.

Will blinked in confusion as she stared at the staff she was holding. Did this mere trinket do things other than rewind time on trees? Or did it perhaps manipulate time, rewind or fastforward certain objects that were affected by its natural flow?

"Put it in the ground by the wheel and turn the needles like you did before." Ranger of the Ancient Night ordered her.

"Hey, just because I'm in your world doesn't mean our roles are reversed!" Will snapped.

"Just do it before they show up!" Ranger of the Ancient Night snapped back bringing her up bow again and aiming it at Will once more.

"Okay. Okay. Sheesh- what's her problem?" Will muttered under her breath.

She knew the girl appeared to be holding a grudge against her for abandoning them even if it was not deliberate, but this seemed to be about more than just that. Come to think of it, she did say something about her being her enemy because she was holding the staff. Did it have more than just a time trick up the fabled sleeve or was it more because there was someone- or something following them and she desperately wanted _not_ to be found by them?

 _'I'm not awake two hours and already I'm thrown in at the deep end'_ Will thought as she speared the staff into the ground beside the dried up stream and twisted the needles so that they were both horizontal.

Just like with the tree, the once dried up stream suddenly becoming a raging rapids. With the stream now flowing again, the waterwheel began to turn causing the gate to slowly open. Not wanting to wait for the gate to fully open, Ranger of the Ancient Night pulled Will through the gate before launching an arrow at the staff shattering it and causing its effects to dissipate which in turn caused the gate to close again.

* * *

The first thing Will noticed about the town was that it was empty. She could understand the lack of life in the forest but to come in to a place of civilization that was imitating a ghost town clearly told the duellist that something big was happening in the Spirit World.

"Where is everyone?" Will asked surprised to find herself whispering.

"Captured." Ranger of the Ancient Night replied quietly as she lead her through the empty streets.

Even if she wanted to ask more, Will was interrupted when Ranger of the Ancient Night stopped abruptly causing Will to bump into her nearly sending both to the ground. Up ahead, Will could just count up to four monkey like beast or beast-warrior type monsters she had never seen before carrying staffs identical to the one she had earlier before being tugged round the nearest corner before any of the monkeys could see them.

Will was beginning to suspect that those monkeys were the ones who had captured all the residents of the town. It was reinforced when she noticed that Ranger of the Ancient Night was showing an emotion other than anger for once: _fear_.

Years on the rundown streets of B.A.D. had taught Will that running around when scared was a _bad_ idea as it could lead to getting lost and ending up landing you square in enemy territory or, as the two realised too late, they had gone down a dead end alley. As they tried to make their way back, the sounds of the monkeys' footsteps could be heard coming their way.

"Not good." Will muttered as she and Ranger of the Ancient Night slowly backed away from the approaching voices.

It looked to Will like she was about to be captured once again, this time by scrawny monkey monsters wielding time-bewitching weapons. At least, that's what she was thinking before an unnoticed individual came through the wall behind her and Ranger of the Ancient Night, clamped his hands over their mouths then pulled them back through the wall into the empty building.

"Don't make a sound!" The stranger whispered suggesting to try going against him would be suicidal.

Luckily, both girls were smart enough to realise he had just saved their lives and merely nodded into his hands as they heard the monkeys enter the alley they had just previously been in.

"Me thought see monsters run here." One of the monkeys spoke.

"Me think you see things. Me see nothing but dead end." Another spoke.

"We waste time here. Must patrol elsewhere." Another spoke up. "Me not want King angry again."

Hunkered down and waiting on baited breath, the three hiding behind the wall listened as the gaggle of monkeys made their way back towards their patrol path. Only once they could no longer hear them did the stranger release his hold on the two girls both quickly letting out a sigh of relief now that they were safe for the time being.

"Thanks for the rescue." Will began as she turned to face her saviour only to balk as she recognised the monster. "Okay, this is really starting to creep me out now."

She could understand running into one of her monsters, but running into Ranger of the Ancient Night and now Mage of the Ancient Arts, Will could not help but feel like she was having an estranged family reunion.

"I guess you're from the Real World also." The blue haired spellcaster remarked as he stood up.

"What gave it away?" Will could not help but remark as she glared at the monster.

"Seeing as I just saved you, you would have been captured long ago when Monkey boy and his minions first showed up." The spellcaster replied without missing a beat before turning to Ranger of the Ancient Night who had yet to move from where she was squatted. "Yulie? You okay there?"

For a second, Will thought she had misheard the spellcaster before realising that, while they did have their ' _name_ ' typed on the top of their cards, monsters were bound to have ' _real_ ' names which were bound to be easier than some of those with long card names.

"I'll be fine." Yulie replied finally getting unsteadily to her feet. "Thanks, Blue."

"Blue?" Will echoed in confusion as she watched the Mage of the Ancient Arts place a comforting arm around a still shaken Ranger of the Ancient Night's shoulders. "Are you _really_ called that?"

"Call me what you want. Just remember who just saved your butt from being turned into a tablet." 'Blue' replied.

Will could only glower at the spellcaster's back as he guided Yulie out of the building through a back doorway. Not wanting to be alone in case more of those monkeys, Will followed after her two former monsters while making a mental note to get back at the spellcaster the first chance she got.

* * *

Sticking to the back alleys and side streets, the now group of three soon made their way to a disused warehouse. Quickly checking to see if they had been followed or if there were any patrols nearby, the trio made their way inside where Will was nearly floored when she recognised everyone else in the room.

 _'It's like my deck's come back to haunt me for abandoning it_ ' Will thought as she spotted Warrior of the Ancient Sword, Assassin of the Ancient Shadows and Spearholder of the Ancient Lands spread about throughout the barren warehouse along with a child spellcaster she had never seen before.

"Well, well. Look who's back!" Spearholder of the Ancient Lands greeted when he spotted 'Blue' and Yulie before locking eyes with Will. "And I see we have a new girl...Any one else get the feeling saying ' _I've met that girl before'_ , anybody?"

"She's a human from the Real World like Luna." The child spoke up.

"Of course. Why else would the self-proclaimed womanizer _not_ recognise a female monster?" Assassin of the Ancient Shadows scoffed flicking a lock of hair over her shoulder.

"But why is she here?" Warrior of the Ancient Sword spoke up.

"I'm standing right here, Warrior." Will interrupted. "And to answer your question: I heard, I assume it was this girl the kid mentioned, Luna, call out to me and suddenly found myself here."

Everyone stared at Will as if she had just said something taboo. Luckily, she did not have to ask what she had done wrong as the kid spellcaster suddenly threw a hissy fit.

"Will you kids stop treating me like a brat! As your elder, you should all be treating me with the utmost respect!" He yelled waving his arms around like a kid having a temper tantrum.

"Well maybe if you hadn't blundered, you wouldn't be stuck in that form and Luna wouldn't be stuck in the monkey king's castle!" Yulie threw back.

"I'm old! I can't help it if I have sciatica or tell when it flares up!" The kid defended.

"Sy-what-a-car?" Will blinked in confusion. "Okay, I know this isn't the time for a history lesson but, can we backtrack a little and bring me up to speed on things here?"

* * *

 **Free: A bit smaller than the previous few chapters, I know, but figured this could be the teaser for all that'll happen in the next-**

 **(Get's interrupted by Grey bursting into the room and slamming the door shut while panting for breath)**

 **Grey: Free, remember how you said you grew bored of killing Fallen and Hive and such earlier?**

 **Free: Your point being?**

 **(Grey merely runs away from the door as a Hive Knight suddenly breaks it down)**

 **Free: I hate extra work… Okay, readers, while I clean up Grey's mess, you review and like the chapter or whatever.**


	11. OldNew Friends and Monkeys!

**Grey: We are back once again! This time finishing off our first trip to the Spirit World. No Cliffies this time, right Free?**

 **Free: Nope. One chapter Although I do think it might be a touched rushed in places.**

 **Grey: Meh...if they don't like they can read something else.**

 **Free: We don't own YGO or WKC. Just a couple OCs**

* * *

"Okay, first things first: introductions" Spearholder of the Ancient Lands started dramatically. "This roguishly handsome man speaking to you right now is-"

"Hold the dramatics, Caesar." Mage of the Ancient Arts cut over him reminding Will of a pair of Enforcers the way they acted. "We are on the clock here."

"Spoilsport…" Spearholder of the Ancient Lands, aka Caesar, muttered in rejection before becoming all smiles and optimistic again as he carried on. "I'm Caesar, the Warrior's Leonard, the Assassin's Kara and you've already the Ranger and Mage, aka Yulie and Alastor."

"But...Yulie called him ' _Blue_ '-" Will began looking at the blue haired mage in confusion.

"That's Yulie's nickname for him." Caesar waved off as if people always got perplexed by that titbit of knowledge. "You should've heard the names and insults they traded back when-"

"Ahem!" The kiddie spellcaster butted in glaring daggers at them all for ignoring him again.

Now that he had her attention once more, Will could not place the kid although her knowledge of spellcaster type monsters ranged from those her opponents used against her and her friends along with those her friends used. If what he said about him being older than all of them was true, then she had no clue as to what monster he was supposed to be- or even why he looks like a kid in the first place for that matter.

"This little guy here-"

"I'm not a little kid!" The kid snapped angrily. "My name is Torunka, the Dark Sage and most powerful of magicians after Mahado himself!"

If he was hoping for Will to stare at him in awe, he was sorely disappointed as the only thing he got from the human was a blank stare.

"Come on! The Dark Magician!? The Ace of the 'King of Games' deck!?" Torunka cried. "Is anything ringing any bells or dinging the dong or whatever you humans say!?"

"Definitely not that last one." Will shuddered. "Alright, say I believe you, Trunks-"

"Torunka!"

"Whatever! Why are you looking more like a ten year old than a ten thousand year old?" Will asked not caring if she upset...Trumpet or...Torrent or whatever his name was.

Before the midget mage could go on about his sa-whatever-ca, Yulie clamped a hand over his mouth while the bigger, bluer mage took over.

"He got hit by the Minus Curse. It's what we call the magic those staffs you've seen laying around all over the place." Alastor explained. "While it reverses inanimate objects like trees and dried up rivers, point a staff at a monster and turn the needles into a minus sign and the monster reverts back into a stone slab similar to those humans used as mediums to summon us millenias ago."

It was all starting to make sense to Will, particularly the parts about why Yulie was so hostile towards her when they first met and why she had not seen a duel monster outside those of her abandoned deck.

"As for why he's now a brat and not a slab of stone, he tripped when one of the monkeys chasing us activated their staff." Kara cut in much to Torunka's protests.

"Unfortunately, the only one who noticed what had happened was Luna. "By the time the rest of us realised what had happened and went back for them, we found Torunka as he is now trying to pull himself out of a bush and Luna nowhere to be found." Leonard finished off.

"Okay...still in the dark about what's going on here- just so you know." Will threw out.

It was not that she did not feel sorry for Trinket, although the way he was acting was making it rather hard to pity the kid. It was just that, ever since she had first woken up in Sayer's little doll palace, she had either been having splitting migraines, actual injuries from a simple duel or lame duel tests with cards that felt foreign to her- and that was without all those flashbacks of her real life confusing the hell out of her before realising what was happening.

If she was expecting sympathy from them, all she got were unsympathetic looks although one or two of them were looking like they were fighting down a smirk. The kid mage on the other hand was glaring daggers at her for obvious reasons.

"For as long as any of us can remember, the Spirit World was a realm of peace where all types coexisted without prejudice- despite whatever happens when summoned to the Real World. Then, just over a year ago, a new monster by the name of 'Zeman the Ape King' appeared here in the Spirit World along with a small army of monkey minion monsters." Alastor started off quickly sending a glare Caesar's way when the Spearholder opened his mouth to say something witty. "Nobody thought much of it at the time. It was probably the worst mistake we could make."

Will shivered making a mental note to never listen to one of his ghost stories should he ever take up storytelling.

"Without warning, they suddenly attacked capturing monsters left and right with those Minus staves of theirs. By the time panic set in, over a third of all monsters in the surrounding area had been transformed into slabs including a few of our own." Alastor continued nodding his head to the others. "The Lost Knights and a few of Yulie's close friends were changed right before her eyes."

Will could relate to that having watched a… _'close friend_ ' you could say get carted off by Security while she and her friends. It sure explained a bit as to why Yulie had such an inbred fear of the monkeys and their king.

"Once we got away, we began gathering information to prepare for a counter attack although what we discovered was more terrifying than what we initially imagined." Alastor said indicating to Kara to continue where he left off.

"The king of all these Monkeys, Zeman, is a Dark Synchro monster. A minion of an extinct race of monsters called the Earthbound Immortals. He's capturing other monsters to use their life force to take command of the spirit of the Ancient Fairy Dragon one of the Signer Dragons that fought against the Immortals alongside the Crimson Dragon." Kara began.

As Kara explained about how Zeman and his forces had been going from realm to realm within the Spirit World capturing all the spirits he could, Will's felt like her mind was going into meltdown with all this talk of ancient spirits and dragons. At least she now knew what this 'darkness' the voice mentioned to her or at least its servant but it still did not answer everything. It felt like the more she tried to find answers all she got were more questions, each more terrifying than the last. And it was scaring her far more than anything she had ever seen or experienced before.

Speaking of what the voice talked about, apparently the child it also mentioned, Luna, was definitely the one she had to help.

Apparently, Luna was able to come to the Spirit World of her own accord and had made a promise a while back to rescue her Signer Dragon, the Ancient Fairy Dragon during her last trip here. Not only that, Luna was also a Signer, person from the real world who had a strong bond with one of the dragons that aided the Crimson Dragon thousands of years ago, hers being the Ancient Fairy Dragon. When she arrived here again, the first people she met were Will's monsters who looked after her like one of their own as they helped her in finding Regulus, the last of Ancient Fairy Dragon's servants who had managed to evade Zeman's forces while waiting for Luna to find him.

Unfortunately, when enroute to Regulus' last known location, they had been ambushed by Zeman's minions. While nobody had got turned into stone tablets, Trunks had gotten turned into a midget with almost no magical capabilities and Luna had been taken away by the monkeys in the hopes that she could be used as bait to draw out Ancient Fairy Dragon's power for Zeman to present to his masters the supposedly extinct Earthbound Immortals.

"When you showed up, I just happened to be in the area scouting for Regulus. We haven't heard from him since the ambush." Yulie explained to Will. "Guess it's a good job that I ran into you. I'd be nothing but a paving slab otherwise."

Even though she joked about it, Will could see that Yulie was still shaken by her near miss with the monkeys.

"What about Luna? Are we doing anything about rescuing her?" Will asked getting more stares from the monsters.

"What's this ' _we_ ' stuff about? Who are you for that matter?" Alastor inquired with a frown all too much like in his card picture. "How and why are you here for that matter? I doubt you've got the same gift as Luna."

"C'mon, Al. Don't go looking a gift horse in the mouth." Caesar waved off coming to Will's aid. "We have a damsel in distress awaiting a daring rescue and a kitty cat stuck up a tree in the forest to find. Let's get those adventures out the way then grill the girl. You know: ask why she's here, how she got here, if she has a boyfriend-"

Caesar's rant was stopped when Kara slapped the back of his dreadlocked head. It was clear that the Spearholder was always like this as the others, bar Torunka, did not bat an eyelid when Kara slapped him.

"Apart from his idea of questions, I'm with Caesar on this." Leonard spoke up getting back to the conversation at hand looking pointedly at Will. "Have you any experience breaking and entering?"

Will did not even bother with a verbal answer. That grin appearing on her face told the monsters volumes.

* * *

While Will had not broken into an old Victorian era castle, they were more or less pre-modern versions of buildings she had broken into. The only difference to her was that instead of Security goons looking for her it was little monkeys wielding anti monster staves. She might not be a monster but she sure as hell did not want to find out what would happen should one of those monkeys try using it one her and so long as she kept quiet, she would not have to find out.

So why in the world was the midget mage joining her and Kara in storming the castle and not joining the rest of the group in seeking out Regulus? Unless he was going to offer himself up as a decoy, and quite likely end up as a concrete slab, Torunka was nothing more than dead weight to her and Kara- come to think of it, either way he was dead weight.

"So where about in there would Luna likely be?" Will asked as the two blondes plus one stuck their heads over a large boulder to spy on the large castle up the road complete with dry moat and monkey sentries. "And no replying with 'top of the tallest tower' or some fairytale junk."

Giving Will a look that said ' _do I look like Caesar to you?_ ' Kara pointed to the eastern side of the castle.

"There are some empty storerooms turned into makeshift barracks. That would be the first place to look. The other would be the dungeon but Zeman usually puts his misbehaving subordinates and screw ups there so I doubt it." Kara supplied. "Before you ask, I managed to sneak in a while back before Luna showed up. Back then, there was not much security."

"But with such an important guest, you can't blame the landlord for upping security." Will finished seriously before smirking. "Just makes it all the more challenging, right?"

Kara smirked also whereas Torunka looked lost and confused as the two blondes ducked back behind the boulder. By the time the midget mage had scrambled back down the boulder, his height or lack thereof required him to scale it, both girls had disappeared from sight leaving him scrambling to catch up with either of them.

"Dammit! Wait for me!" Torunka cried out trying not to stumble. "Damn sciatica!"

* * *

 _'This is as easy as sneaking into the Security's outpost in B.A.D.'_ Will thought as she slipped through the cold stone hallways to her destination.

It really was pretty much the same as sneaking into a Security outpost, the only difference being the era of the building and the type of guard patrolling the halls. That and her target being an actual person rather than a few decks of cards. As well as there being no lifts meaning there were staircases everywhere.

Despite the subtle layout changes compared to what she was normally infiltrating, Will was like smoke as she ghosted hallways and slipped passed the monkey guards in search of her target her skill in espionage still up to par despite being dormant for two years.

Her finding skills on the other hand needed a little work it seemed. After fifteen minutes of searching and coming up empty, minus a brief moment when she almost ran into a pair of monkeys ogling a stone tablet of a Thunder Nyan-Nyan, Will was starting to think Kara was going to be the one to find Luna, having split up the moment they had snuck in, and had started making her way back to their rendezvous point when she spotted a door in an abandoned corner of the hallway she was in.

Deciding to check it out before heading off, Will carefully wandered over to the door and was surprised to find it locked unlike all the other doors she had peeked through. Undaunted, Will quickly picked the lock with the help of a hairclip Kara had supplied her and entered only to find herself having another case of deja vu.

Sitting curled up on the bed and staring at her in a mixture of surprise, curiosity and hope, Will could have sworn she had seen the greenette somewhere before only wearing blue rather than pink and red.

"You're human, right? Are you here to save me?" The girl asked quickly deducing that this new person was not a monster nor a minion of Zeman's.

"Well, you did ask me for help." Will replied gently trying not to sound too cool or humorous. The girl had just spent the better part of a couple weeks in a minus five star hotel after all. "Sorry for the wait, by the way."

"It's alright. I'm just glad someone heard me!" Luna assured Will as she slipped off the hard board bed. "Thank you so much."

"Let's save the thanks until we get out of here, okay?" Will suggested quickly darting back to the doorway to check to see if the cost was still clear. "Can you walk?

Luna nodded as walked over to where Will was hiding behind the doorframe.

"My name is Luna, by the way." Luna whispered.

"I'm Will." Will replied just as quietly with a reassuring smile taking hold of Luna's hand before darting out into the hallway.

They were nearing the rendezvous point when a voice echoed throughout the stronghold causing the two girls to freeze in place.

"Get your greasy paws off me! Don't you know who you're dealing with!? You wouldn't be messing with me if I had all my power!"

 _'You gotta be kidding me!'_ Will mentally swore although she should not really be surprised at this turn of events. It had been going along rather smoothly up to this point after all.

"Was that Torunka?" Luna asked in disbelief.

"More like Torunka getting himself captured." Will muttered in response wishing the midget mage had stayed back or even went with the others.

"Will! Kara! Forget about me and get Luna out of here!" Torunka could be heard yelling.

Will actually could not help but admire the midget for being so selfless-

"Uh...actually- _HELP_!"

-until he had a sudden change of heart, that was causing both girls to sigh in frustration.

'And this guy is supposed to be the Dark Sage of all monsters?' Will thought to herself.

"He sure is exasperating, isn't he?" Luna asked.

"I don't know how you managed to put up with him when he was an old geezer." Will muttered as the two headed off again.

"I just kept out of the way of the others especially after Kara warned me of Caesar and Torunka." Luna provided. "That and I have a brother who's just like him."

Will held in a snigger before coming to a sudden stop as she remembered where she had thought she had seen Luna before and nearly causing Luna to lose her arm as she had kept on running until their interlocked hands had her suddenly being yanked backwards.

"He wouldn't happen to look just like you but wore blue, would he?" Will asked recalling something she had glimpsed while being taken by Sayer to where Akiza had been throwing a temper tantrum over being beaten by Yusei.

Almost like a switch had gone off, Luna's concern for why Will had suddenly stopped morphed into happiness and relief telling Will that, even though she was stuck in another world, she cared more for her brother and wanted to know if he was alright or not.

"You met Leo?! Is he alright?! I keep having these dreams about him getting hurt-" Luna started rambling before Will clamped a hand over her mouth and dragged her behind the nearest pillar as the sounds of footsteps and struggling reached the older girl's ears.

Truthfully, Will was actually secretly relieved for the distraction which was no doubt approaching in the form of Torunka and his captors. If her foggy memory served correctly, Will last saw Luna's brother getting a little shock treatment while duelling another kid all just to see if either of them had any psychic talent Sayer could add to his army. And that was over a week ago. Who knows what had happened to the boy or his opponent by now.

Speaking of now, two monkeys suddenly came round the corner carrying between them a struggling Torunka who was still shouting out profanities at his captors or cursing Will and Kara for leaving him to die at the hands of an evildoer. For someone who was supposed to be wise, even if he had been reverted, he sure was not using his head much. Will was almost tempted to just leave Torunka to his fate but knew that the little girl she was rescuing would never let her hear the end of it. And while Luna was no replacement for Kari, Will had a feeling Luna would be just as nagging as her actual little sister.

With that heavy thought in mind, Will reluctantly told Luna to remain behind the pillar before walking out into plain sight of the trio.

Surprised at the sight of another human standing in their master's lair, the two minion monkeys dropped their prisoner and aimed their minus staves at Will.

"Who you?" One of the monkey's demanded.

"Where you come from?" The other demanded.

"That hole in the wall right behind you." Will answered pointing to a point behind the two monkeys.

Stupidly, the two monkeys looked behind them only to see a barren stone wall. It was the last thing they saw before something grabbed them by the back of their heads and smashed them together like a pair of cymbals or maybe a pair of empty coconuts as they definitely were not using the brains supposedly between their ears.

"Next time someone get's imprisoned, leave it to the pros, Trinket." Will scolded the midget.

"It's Torunka! And getting caught was all part of my plan!" Torunka snapped loudly glaring daggers at Will.

"Brilliant plan, oh great sage." Will complimented with sarcasm dripping from every syllable.

"Don't get cheeky with me you cheeky child! If it weren't for this curse, I would have had no problem taking them out and rescuing Luna!"

"You would have been a tablet before you got through the front door." Kara scoffed from right behind Torunka causing the child to nearly jump a mile in fright.

Ignoring Torunka as he tried to calm his overworked heart, Kara turned to look at Will and Luna who had quickly joined the trio now that the danger had passed.

"I see you already found the girl. Any different from rescuing us from a prison box?" Kara asked of Will.

Will was stunned. Apparently Kara was quicker at connecting the dots than the rest of her monsters and had realised just who she was to them bar the midget mage obviously.

"I'm not just all looks and no smarts like some monsters you know." Kara grinned before inclining her head towards their exit point. "Come on. Let's go before monkeys show."

Nodding in agreement, the group of monsters and humans headed off, making sure to keep quiet and out of sight of any monkeys. All the while, Luna was puzzled to what Kara meant about Will freeing them. Was Will just like herself, capable of coming and going from the Spirit World also? It would explain as to how she could hear her plea for help.

For now, that question would have to wait. Once out of the castle, they had to make their way back into the forest where Regulus should be and hope that the others had managed to find him before Zeman's forces did.

That and endure Torunka complaining about his sciatica.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, with an irritated Will carrying Torunka after having enough of his whining about his sciatica within the first five minutes of travel, the four arrived at the area Yulie and the others had headed off to earlier to find Regulus.

What they were not expecting was to find Leonard, Alastor and Caesar fending off an enraged white lion with a horn sticking out of its head. Well, Will was surprised but then again, Caesar did mention something about a lost kitten or whatever earlier but she had not paid much attention to it. The others were more surprised to see the two parties fighting more than anything else.

"Please tell me Caesar did not provoke Regulus." Kara called out to Yulie who was currently up a tree keeping a lookout for monkeys.

"He didn't." Yulie assured the assassin dropping down from the tree to give the newcomers a brief rundown of what had happened since they parted ways.

Not long after entering the forest, Yulie, Leonard, Caesar and Alastor came upon a party of Zeman's monkeys evidently on the prowl for Regulus. Deciding to tail them, pun unintended, the four Ancients watched as the monkeys found Regulus and got their collective tails kicked by the white lion before they could raise their staves.

Or that was what they thought before Leonard spotted a Minus Staff caught on his back leg and they had been trying to capture him some other way for reasons none of them could figure out. Before they could fathom further, Regulus turned his anger on them forcing them to bring up arms to fend off the furious feline.

"And that pretty much sums what we've been doing before you guys showed up." Yulie finished as Leonard and Caesar dove out the way of a pouncing Regulus. "It's like he's hell bent on clawing up anyone he sees."

"Maybe they interrupted his catnap?" Will threw out trying to make light of the situation only to receive blank looks from the others although she was sure she heard Luna suppress a chuckle.

"I'll handle this." Torunka proclaimed walking forward towards Regulus and dragging Luna along with him.

 _'He goes in peace and returns in pieces.' _Will thought knowing that this was not going to end well for the mage.

"O, proud and noble Regulus! This child with me has come to aid us in the rescue of Ancient Fairy Dragon and-" Torunka began.

"Enough of your lies!" Regulus snarled as he pounced at the two kids.

Frozen in fear at the sight of the white lion's sharp claws and fangs, the pair were saved only by the timed intervention of Alastor who conjured a large top hat over them which then multiplied into three which quickly became two as Regulus tore into the middle hat while the other two floated away. Thankfully, that hat was empty while the one closest to Will and Yulie was lifted up to reveal two scared but relieved pre-teens.

While Regulus attacked the remaining hat as it floated tauntingly in front of the white lion, the group made a tactical retreat both to check up on the kids and come up with a plan of action.

"Any more bright ideas of yours?" Yulie asked of Torunka who had the common sense to look down at his feet in shame for nearly getting Luna killed.

"What did he mean by 'Enough of your lies'? He may be a brat but he's no liar." Will said looking back on what Regulus had said to Torunka.

"Now that you mention it, he's been saying stuff like that whenever we try to tell him we're on his side." Leonard recalled.

"Could it be because of the staff attached to his leg, perhaps?" Luna spoke up looking at Alastor who was probably the smartest of them all being a spellcaster and one of the more mature ones of the group.

"It's possible…" Alastor conceded although he looked unsure of it. "Essentially, that staff makes things go backwards."

"Or the opposite of what things originally are." Caesar pointed out. "And lies are the opposite of truths after all."

"So all we have to do is say the opposite of what we mean?" Leonard asked looking unsure of the direction the plan seemed to be going.

"No. Even if we tried, he'll probably just think we're lying to him some more." Will pointed out. "What we need...is _bait_."

Having been looking pointedly at Torunka as she said that, the midget mage could only gulp in fear of what Will had planned.

* * *

 _'Why me?_!' Torunka mentally moaned as he walked back into Regulus' den alone _. 'I am the greatest and wisest of spellcasters! Why couldn't that blonde brat or that upstart mage Alastor do this?! He's just trying to usurp me, I bet…'_

Anymore internal rants Torunka wanted to make were put on hold as a loud, low growl could be heard. And it sure was not his stomach.

"You dare to return to face me?" Regulus growled coming round from behind a tree practically squinting with how closed his eyes were as he stared at the tiny mage.

Even though he was now trembling from head to toe, Torunka took a deep breath before yelling out-

"Regulus is a smelly klutz! He's a crybaby and my housecat could take him on!"

For a moment, there was silence. Not the eerie kind that came after someone saying or doing something awkward but more like the silence you would get after doing something foolish like, for example, calling a big guy fat or insulting a king of beasts like Regulus.

The next second, the entire seemed to shake in fear as Regulus let out an almighty roar that had Torunka bolting back the way he came.

"Do you really think feeble flattery will work on me!?" Regulus snarled as he gave chase quickly catching up to the midget mage and pouncing.

Too enraged, he had failed to notice his surroundings. Had he been more calm he would have noticed Alastor casting _'Spellbinding Circle'_ and _'Shadow Spell'_ leaving Regulus stuck in mid-air and unable to move a paw.

With his target now immobilised, Caesar came into view wielding a Minus Staff in place of his usual weapon.

"Don't screw this up now." Alastor warned the spearman.

"Yeah, yeah." Caesar waved off casually before turning serious. They only had the one staff that they found from the monkeys that had not been broken and to blow it now would mean hell from Kara and Yulie should he screw it up.

Fortunately, while he may act aloof, Caesar took his profession seriously and threw the staff accurately destroying both his one and the one attached to Regulus' leg creating a brief flash of light before dying out to reveal a confused looking Regulus wondering what in the Spirit World was going on.

"What happened?" The white lion asked before spotting monsters of the Ancient Archetype approaching him along with two humans if his eyes were not deceiving him along with a child pretending to be Torunka the Dark Sage.

"You nearly turned me into a scratching post! That's what!" The child shouted in fury. "My heart's nearly exploding after that. Not to mention my sciatica is playing havoc on my weary bones with all this running about!"

Regulus' eyes widened to near comical proportions as he realised this really was the Dark Sage he was talking to.

"Torunka?! What in the name of the Egyptian Gods has happened to you?!" He asked. "And why am I trapped in chains and a spell glyph?"

"We're all being hunted by Zeman. Can this wait for later?" Kara interrupted the two apparently old friends while Alastor cancelled his magicks suspending the white lion.

She held a valid point. There was no doubt that that roar had alerted every minion of Zeman within and outside the forest and making their way towards their location as the stood about chatting about the weather and whatever else came to mind- like rescuing Ancient Fairy Dragon for example.

However, things looked to be taking a turn for the worse as Luna froze up in fear as if suddenly realising she had forgotten to do her homework that was to be due the next day.

"You okay?" Will asked noticing the greenette freeze up.

"We need to get back to the Real World! Something terrible's about to happen!" Luna said looking worried.

"What about your dragon?" Will asked in concern.

It was like coming to a crossroad where the two paths were both equally important. Were they to remain here, they could rescue Ancient Fairy Dragon but likely be unable to return to the Real World as their bodies had became...something unpleasant that they could not live in. If they went back to the Real World and took care of this danger, or escaped from it, they might lose their chance to free Ancient Fairy Dragon from her prison.

Fortunately, Alastor stepped in at that point.

"Get going. We're not going to be doing any rescuing any time soon with Zeman's forces out in full force for us." He told the girls.

"He's right." Kara chipped in. "Besides, while in the castle, I managed to discover that Zeman has yet to get past Mirror Soul Dragon's Glacial Shell."

"Has he even managed to chip the girl's igloo yet?" Caesar could not help but ask earning another slap to the back of his head.

Will did not even hear Caesar's joke her mind now efficiently blown upon hearing that her signature dragon was protecting a Signer Dragon.

"Indeed. Escape from the trouble in your world first. We shall continue the fight here in the Spirit World until you return." Regulus spoke as if settling the matter.

"That doesn't include me, does it?" Torunka asked timidly. "I don't know if my sciatica can take this."

"Oh, put a sock in it!" Yulie snapped at the midget mage before turning to Alastor. "Think you can get them back to their world, Blue?"

"They should be able to get back themselves if they managed to get here." Alastor pointed out.

"Hold on a minute!" Will shouted out coming to her senses. "Even if we go back, I have no idea where Luna is and I'm stuck in Sayer's tower of psychic wannabe's!"

She held a good point. She highly doubted Sayer would let her go- especially as she was invited to Arcadia Movement through unkindly means. Then there was the trouble of not knowing where she was let alone where Luna was as she doubted the greenette lived in Satellite.

So if was a stroke of pure luck when Luna, instead of looking upset, smiled as if she had just won her first duel.

"Then you'll be able to rescue me! I'm stuck there myself." She explained looking as if she was about to explain how she had ended up in Sayers clutches when Regulus interrupted them. Time was of the essence after all.

"Go now!" Regulus urged. "We shall await your return!"

The two girls nodded and, clasping one another's hands, braced themselves for whatever magic that had taken them to the Spirit World returned them to their own world when Alastor called out to Will. Glancing in the mage's direction, the older girl only just managed to catch a staff thrown her way.

"You're going to need some help getting to Luna if she's trapped elsewhere in the Real World." He told Will gesturing to the staff in her hand. "This'll give you a hand in opening doors among other things."

Will nodded holding onto the staff tightly as she felt herself fade from existence once more entering a world of darkness.

* * *

 **Grey: This one was rather long.**

 **Free: I wanted to get it over with quickly.**

 **Grey: ...This wouldn't happen to be because your OC finally gets to show up & not just have a mere cameo alongside Luna's brother.**

 **Free: ...Maybe.**

 **Grey: Can't wait for what you write next. If you fans are just as eager, review, like & ask nicely for an early update.**


	12. Lucky Break and Hidden feelings!

**Grey: Before we kick off, I have an important question to ask of my partner in crime.**

 **Free: Shoot.**

 **Grey: Will there be an actual dual in this chapter?**

 **Free: ...Yes.**

 **Grey: You hesitated!**

 **Free: Neither of us own YuGiOh! or White Knight Chronicles, just the words & OCs below.**

 **Grey: You're ignoring me! Tell me now or I'll...think of something nasty to unleash on you!**

* * *

Once again, Will opened her eyes to find herself in another world. This time, it was her own world and it was the room she had been taken to after returning from her last trip down memory lane. The only thing completely different, she noticed when she sat up, was the card clutched in her hand.

It pretty much reminded Will of an equip spell card with the blue frame and picture of a staff, the same one Alastor had given her in the Spirit World. All that it required was some text in the box and a card name and it could probably pass for an actual card. She would have to ask Alastor about that when she went back to the Spirit World.

Right now however, she had things to do in the Real World. Specifically: finding Luna, rescuing her and either escape or survive this terrible thing Luna said she was sensing.

Easier said than done.

Even if this card Alastor gave her could unlock doors, and despite 'living' for lack of a better term, in Arcadia Movement, Will had absolutely no clue as to where she was let alone whatever room Luna was trapped in having only seen this room, the duel hall, the room she once shared with Liquid and Okita as well as the familiar corridors and lift between locations. Not only that but she had nothing to duel with other than that psychic structure deck she had been supplied with by Sierra and while she had come to grips with it by duelling Liquid and Okita, there was no way it would help her pull through against a professional like Akiza or Sayer- especially if the latter tried pulling the same trick he did when he kidnapped her from Satellite.

At the thought of Akiza, Will suddenly wondered if she could convince the troubled girl to come with them. It was clear to her that Akiza had had a troubled past but had the rotten luck of crossing paths with Sayer who capitalized on her woes and turning her into nothing more than a weapon and figurehead something that Will wanted to change as soon as she could.

 _'One thing at a time, Will_ ' She scolded herself. She had to help Luna and here she was thinking of helping someone else.

First things first, Will needed to make sure this card she was given did what it did not say in its text. Picking herself up, Will was about to head for the door when she noticed through the large window that showed into the next room that it now had an occupant in the form of Luna's brother's opponent.

And just like that, Will's mind was spinning ideas. The boy, well teenager rather as he was more gangly and skinnier than the greenettes and Kari, had undoubtedly been here a while, maybe not as long as her but still, and had likely been guided from here or wherever to the duel hall for his matches against either against Luna's brother or whoever they pitted him against meaning he had a better lay of the land than she did maybe even an idea of where Luna would be kept if Will was lucky.

It was slim in the chances department but Will could tell just by looking at him that he had came off the streets. While Will had no idea of how New Domino City slum dwellers handled life compared to Satellite, she could spot a survivor when she saw one. And survivors always remained vigilant, be it always checking over your shoulder for a stalker or looking for an escape route or chance to escape- provided they were not under Sayer's control like she had been.

Time to see if her hunch was spot on.

Walking over to the window, Will rapped on the glass three times getting the teen's attention, if that glance her way was anything to go by.

"What would you say if I told you I could get us out of here?" She spoke hoping that he could hear her as he certainly was not paying any attention to her.

Unsurprisingly, the teen merely glanced at her again before turning his attention back to the deck in his hands. Will was starting to get doubts when she heard him speak.

"What's the catch?" He asked.

Will could not help but grin as her suspicions so far seemed to be dead on. It was an unwritten rule on the streets to know that nothing was given freely.

"I need to find someone first who's also trapped here. Help me out and we'll let you tag along." Will told her.

The teen kept quiet no doubt thinking over Will's proposal. Will was almost crossing her fingers as she waited on baited breath for his response.

"Fine." He replied causing Will to grin before his next words wiped it from her face. "On one condition."

Will bit back the groan building in her throat and just nodded praying she would be able to meet said condition.

"There's a kid trapped here, all in blue with green hair. You want my help, help me get him out of here also." The teen explained. "Do that and I'll hide you until the heat dies down- assuming you can get us out of these cells."

Just like that, Will's mood took a turn for the better. Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined the teen would be wanting to save the other half of the same duo as herself. Maybe it was the guilt inside for hurting a young kid or he wanted to get back at Arcadia for what they were doing to him. Whatever the case, Will hoped this fountain of good luck lasted until she was out of the building along with the twins.

"Deal!" Will grinned. _'Now to see if this card has an all area access function._ '

Walking back over to the door, Will held the card up to the door and felt herself go slack-jawed when the door clicked then slid open of its own accord. Realising she was just standing there, Will quickly grabbed her duel disk, even if it was useless without her preferred deck rather than this crummy substitute, before cautiously exiting her cell and making her way next door.

Just like before, the door clicked and opened allowing Will to see the teen still sitting on his bed but now looking at her with surprise etched on his face.

"Well?" Will asked letting herself into the cell and closing the door to not raise suspicion. "I can keep up my end. Can I count on you to keep up yours?"

Blinking, the teen regained his composure and returned his focus to his deck shuffling it and inserting it into his duel disk, an old duel academia model. Only then did he stand up and face Will.

"I'm a man of my word. I'll help out." He told her causing Will's grin to broaden.

"Great! Oh, and we're going after my person first who just so happens to be your person's sister but all in pink" Will added as she opened the door again and checked to see if the coast was clear. "You got a name, by the way?"

"...Mido."

 _'Not much of a talker, this one.'_ Will mentally noted as she nodded at the teen. "I'm Will. Just so you know."

"Whatever." Mido muttered stepping passed Will and quickly slipping down the corridor.

Shrugging off his dismissal, Will followed after the teen towards the nearest stairwell and hoped that he would lead her to Luna's quarters rather than the securities barracks. Even if he said he was a man of honor, things were going too well for her. And that usually meant trouble was just around the corner.

* * *

After the bad afternoon he had had, from delays in brainwashing procedures to lobby disturbances and snooping reporters, Sayer smirked widely as he stared from the newly made hole in his office window down onto the streets of New Domino, where the one floor building across the road from his bore a new hole of its own where that nosey reporter he just duelled had landed. The stupid mouse had learned the hard way of what curiosity did to the cat and, thanks to the knowledge of the big skeleton in Goodwin's closet, it would be brushed off as an accidental death allowing him to get back to his problems at hand.

At least, those were his plans before the ground began to shake. As the sudden earthquake raged and lightning shot across the night sky, no one save those in close proximity spotted purple flames erupt from the ground forming lines across the district until they formed an image of a bird only visible from the air.

And then, just as suddenly as it came, the quaking ceased leaving the fire drawing and the ominous dark clouds overhead implying that, whatever was transpiring, it was far from over.

That however, was the least of Sayer's concerns. Now sure that the tremors had stopped, the head and founder of the Arcadia Movement grabbed the phone on his desk and got hold of Sierra for an update on what happened outside and if it had affected the experiment he was testing to try out a special surprise he had in store for his diamond in the rough along with any other potential duellist he happened to find.

'Everything seems to be alright down here. All systems are still operational and the experiment has not been compromised.' Sierra reported through the phone. 'As for the residential floors, I have already sent some of our senior members out along with Akiza to make the rounds and assure the younger members.'

Well, that was reassuring to Sayer. Even if they were just pawns in his grand scheme, it was better that they were healthy in body and...well, if this experiment worked out a healthy body was all they needed psychic powers or not.

"What about the street rat, twins and my diamond?" Sayer inquired.

'...Both the young boy and girl appear to be still in their cells and it looks like the girl has gained consciousness.' Sierra eventually replied no doubt having just checked the live feed from the cameras to check on the four in question. 'As for the other two...I'm afraid they must have escaped during the earthquake.'

That last sentence ruined Sayer's happiness. He had just about given up on the girl having managed to nab her two weeks ago after her duel with the hypnotist only to be informed the next day she had slipped into some sort of coma. Initially he had brushed it off assuming she had temporarily ran off to the Spirit World and would eventually return- plus his diamond had not long woken up afterwards, which drew his attention for a spell.

While awaiting the sleeping beauty to arouse herself, Sayer had decided to turn his attention towards her brother speculating that, if he were a member, she would follow suit as she was not likely to be as malleable as his rose. Sadly, the kid had about as much potential as their first victim of human experimentation meaning he might as well just be trash to be tossed. Maybe he could use that as leverage over the girl to get her to join- then dispose of the boy once the girl was under his control.

Unfortunately, if his diamond had met the girl in the Spirit World and was now awake and running around his building, it was highly likely she was searching for the former sleeping beauty which would be a real problem especially if she had managed to rope in the help of the street rat who had been looking for a chance to escape no matter how dormant he acted.

"How far along is the process?" Sayer asked an evil grin beginning to work its way onto his face as plans for a 'field test' began to form in his mind.

'Over ninety percent complete. However-' Sierra tried to explain that they still needed to check the subjects' mental health once it had been properly completed but Sayer was having none of it.

"Get them on their feet, armed and down to the boy's cell." Sayer ordered knowing that the girl would not want to escape so long as her brother was still imprisoned.

Slamming down the phone before Sierra could protest, Sayer made sure his own deck and disk were primed for another duel. His diamond might be going after the twins, but he wanted to make sure she did not also try to get to his rose. She was pivotal in his plans and having her gain any sense of self was counter-productive to them.

* * *

In all her young life, Luna had had numerous bad wake up calls. Most of them ranging from Leo bouncing up and down on her bed while she was trying to sleep to nearly falling out of bed upon hearing Leo's cry of disappointment when he found out he had lost his favorite card only to discover he had just misplaced it. So to wake up to have her cell room suddenly begin to shake was a rather scary first for her and she had just gotten back from a world where monsters were real to boot.

She knew, without a doubt, that the darkness she had sensed when in the Spirit World had been responsible for that tremor and really hoped that Will came for her and got her and her brother as far away from here as possible before the real danger arrived.

As that thought flitted through her mind, Luna realised with a jolt that she had not asked Will to save Leo as well as herself. This meant she would have to as Will for another favor to go along with everything else Will was doing for her or had already done.

Thinking of this just made her heart even heavier. All she had done was make things worse for everyone she had met both in the Real World and Spirit World. Had she not had this mark, Leo would not be stuck here and had she not panicked and ran off to the Spirit World, Yulie and the others would likely have rescued Ancient Fairy Dragon by now.

She was not a Signer. She was just a burden.

Her inner turmoil was cut short by the sound of footsteps approaching her doorway. As Luna pondered whether to call out to see if it was Will or just keep quiet in case it was that man with the large perm, the door hissed open to reveal her saviour from the Spirit World. Despite herself, Luna smiled as she scrambled off the bed only to nearly land in a heap on the floor had Will not been quick enough to cross the room and catch her before the painful impact.

"Easy there, sleepyhead!" Will chuckled as she helped Luna back onto the bed. "You've been away from this world for a while. You're body's been inactive for what, couple weeks?"

"Sorry. And thanks for coming for me." Luna said before looking down at her feet in shame.

"Hey, I didn't mean anything mean by that." Will pointed out worried she had done something to upset the greenette.

"No, it's not that." Luna shook her head. "It's just...You've saved me in both Worlds now and I have to ask you for another favor."

"This wouldn't happen to be about a certain green haired brother of yours, would it?" Will asked almost teasingly.

Had she been sitting any closer to the greenette, Will would have likely been slapped by one of Luna's ponytails as the girl whipped her head round to stare at her wide eyed with surprise no doubt wondering if she really was psychic. She was wearing a movement uniform after all so she could not blame her.

"Luck was on my side when I woke up. My next door neighbour over there would only agree to help out if we rescued your brother also." Will explained motioning over to the door.

It was only then that Luna noticed the other person in the room and immediately shifted so that she was more or less hiding behind Will not really good at meeting new faces much to the older girl's amusement.

"Hey, Mido, stop staring at her, will ya? I know she's cute and all but this isn't really the time." Will could not resist saying.

In response, Mido merely looked at Will like she was an idiot before turning his attention back to the closed door keeping his ears open for the sounds of anyone approaching. While he had stared at Luna for a few seconds upon entering, it was mostly due to the fact that she looked so much like one of his regular opponents that it took a moment to realise that it was someone else and not just the boy wearing different clothes and his hair done up differently.

 _'Talk about a killjoy…_ ' Will mentally sighed hoping to get a reaction out of the taciturn teen.

Then again, this was probably not the best time to be playing a game of _'tickle the sleeping dragon'._ Especially when trouble could be right around the corner.

"Okay. We can't wait around for your legs to wake up so," Before Luna could protest, Will had grabbed the petite greenette and stood up now giving the girl a piggyback ride. "hold on tight, 'kay?"

"But…" Luna tried to protest but Will had already scooped up her pink duel disk lying on the bedside table and was now heading out the door before either the greenette or the teen could stop her.

Perhaps, had she not been so eager to get on with seeking out Luna's brother, Will would have probably waited for Mido to give them the all clear before using the card again to open the locked door. Had she done that, she might not have collided with the person who had been walking by, or rather sneaking, as he searched for his own target in the Arcadia Movement building.

Fortunately, Will's run of good luck was still strong as the person she had barreled into was someone known to both her and Luna.

"Yusei!" Both girls exclaimed at the same time.

"Luna!? Will?!" Yusei exclaimed surprised to see two people he had not seen in a while.

Any more conversation the trio wished to make was interrupted as Mido suddenly grabbed hold of Will and pulled her back into the room followed quickly by the Fortune Cup champion who cottoned on to why the unknown teen pulled such a move. After sticking his head out to see if anyone from Arcadia Movement had heard the disturbance, Mido pulled back inside and closed the door.

"Any other bright ideas of yours?" He inquired of Will who was sprawled on the ground after he had all but thrown them back into the room.

"Yeah. Install airbags in my backside before you do that again!" Will groaned tenderly standing up as pain shot through her rear end while Luna on the other hand appeared to have received Will's run of good luck as she had somehow managed to land back on the bed thus avoided the injuries Will had sustained.

With the risk of being noticed now minimal, Yusei asked the question that had been on his lips ever since spotting his old friend the other day.

"Will, what happened to you? When you disappeared on us…" Yusei trailed off having just recognised just what Will was wearing.

Noticing where her friend's gaze was looking, Will quickly raised her hands in a placating manner before Yusei got the wrong idea.

"Don't let the bathrobe fool you, Yusei. I haven't joined this nest of cuckoos." Will assured him. "You know that guy with the perm, Sayer? Ran into him after I left Crow and he brainwashed me. Must've been out of until I heard Luna's voice couple weeks back before your match with Akiza. Everything else is foggy."

"But...why would he kidnap you?" Yusei asked confused as to why someone would kidnap Will.

He could understand why Luna was here as Leo had told him that she can 'hear' the voices of duel monsters apparently more bonded to her cards than even himself and Will. Were it for Will's duelling prowess, Yusei could easily understand why Sayer would take her by any means than Will's duelling spirit and skill, Yusei could not think of anything that made her stand out above the rest bar her personality.

"It's because she's like me!" Luna spoke up excitedly. "You can communicate with the duel monster spirits and enter the Spirit World! That's why he wanted you and why you could hear me!"

Looking at each other, Will and Yusei could not help but agree with the greenette. Now that she thought of it, Will could recall having a stranger than strange dream about being in communication with someone in the Spirit World right before being kidnapped by Sayer. If that was just a mere coincidence then she was the reincarnation of the Dark Magician Girl.

"Let's put a raincheck on that. Right now, we need to get the heck out of dodge before a big bad something comes along." Will pointed out knowing that they were wasting time right now when they could be putting it to better use- like _escaping,_ for example.

"We can't- or at least, I can't." Yusei said. "I came here to find Akiza and get her out of here."

"You didn't come here to free Luna and her brother?" Will asked Yusei incredulously patting the girl in question on the head.

"To be honest. I had no idea Luna and Leo were here." Yusei admitted.

He had known that Luna and Leo had disappeared shortly after Luna's match against Professor Frank but did not know who had taken them let alone where they had taken them. Originally, Yusei had thought Goodwin had done it, given the man had used Jack just to get his attention, but his confrontation with the man only told him that their counterparts, the Dark Signers, were on the move towards Arcadia Movement hence the reason why he was here to get Akiza.

Leaving Blister, a friend Yusei had made upon reaching the city, the task of searching for the twins through his underground network, the crab haired Signer began the task of getting into the Arcadia Movement building eventually teaming up with a couple more new friends to get in earlier today. Hopefully, Tanner and Yanagi had managed to get out after creating that disturbance in the lobby.

"Do you even know where she is?" Will asked in concern.

"I would have been out of here by now if I had." Yusei pointed out. With all the patrols and cameras in the building, it had been a task just reaching this floor let alone Akiza's location.

Will subtly bit down on her lip. She wanted to help Akiza also but needed to help Luna find her brother then get them out of here. The smart thing to do was to let Yusei go and find Akiza and take care of her own mission but, remembering how Yusei and Akiza's last meeting went, as well as her own duel against the feared _'Black Rose',_ Will reckoned she would be the better person to find Akiza as their relationship was not as choppy...hopefully.

"Three floors up."

Blinking in surprise, Will turned to look at Mido who had been standing next to the door once again. With all this running into old friends and comparing missions, she had completely forgotten about her accomplice in this Arcadia Movement breakout.

"That's where she'll likely be if she's not in the duel hall." Mido continued thumbing the door. "You want to go find the witch with Crabby, go ahead. I'll take the girl, find her brother and get them out of here."

"You'll actually do that?" Will asked in disbelief. Good luck was one thing, but this was too much of a lucky break.

"I agreed to help you if you got me out, remember? I don't go back on deals I make." Mido reminded her.

Grinning, Will could not help but reckon her new friend would fit in perfectly the rest of the Enforcers were the still together. Yusei on the other hand was doubtful about this but knew that Will would not team up with just anyone she had met right off the bat unless she knew she could trust them so he would go with it for now. At least, this way, he could find out how she and Luna had met along with how his old friend had met this teen from the city streets.

For Luna, she was of mixed minds about this. On the one hand, she just wanted to find Leo and get out of here before that ever looming darkness arrived. She also wanted Will to stay with her but did not want to be selfish when Will clearly wanted to help someone else other than her. She also wanted to help Akiza feeling sorry for the older girl unlike everyone else and not just because she was a Signer also.

Then there was that sudden self conscious feeling she was getting the moment she clambered onto Mido's back. She did not mind Will carrying her but now, she was suddenly well aware of just how long she had gone without a bubble bath.

"You think they'll be okay?" Yusei asked as he and Will watched the two disappear out the door once Will opened it with her card.

"What? Don't you trust me, Crabby?" Will snickered using Mido's nickname for Yusei.

"You, yes. Him on the other hand…" Yusei left the sentence hanging knowing Will would understand what he meant.

"Put it this way, Yusei. If he were in Satellite, he'd be one of the Enforcers or a duel gang leader- and a damn good one at that." Will smirked before stopping as a scary thought struck her. "Actually, I'd rather he was our opponent. If he was one of us, I'd be worried about Kari falling for him."

When Will disappeared out the door, she never noticed how Yusei's complexion paled or hesitated before following after her.

* * *

 **Grey: Freeeeeeeeeeee!**

 **Free: I'm pretty sure my name doesn't have that many 'e's in it.**

 **Leo: Let's see: two in 'forever', two in 'free' and four in 'evergreen'. That's…**

 **Luna: Eight.**

 **Leo: Luna! I nearly had it!**

 **Free: Who let you two in?**

 **Leo & Luna: Her. (both point at Grey)**

 **Grey: What? They're part of my plan to make you write the duels you've promised but not delivered upon.**

 **Free: Don't worry. The next couple chapters will be full of duels.**

 **Grey, Leo & Luna: Promise?**

 **Free: Promise.**

 **Grey: With that out the way, review like & be patient for the next chapter, readers!**

 **Luna:Actually the one who really needs to be patient is you.**

 **Grey:Hey!**


	13. Knight & Mech Breakout!

**Leo: Am I in this one?**

 **Free: Yes.**

 **Luna: Will there be duels in this one?**

 **Free: Yes.**

 **Grey: Do you own YGO or any other game or anime feature in this fic?**

 **Free: No.**

 **Leo: What did she mean by that?**

 **Luna: Let's read & find out.**

* * *

Having spent a little over a month in the Arcadia Movement building, Mido had a good idea of the building's layout. And while he did not have the exact location of the greenette's twin, he did at least know which floor he was imprisoned on along with which side of the building also.

All he had to do now was get to the floor in question without being discovered then try to figure out which room exactly the loudmouthed counterpart to the silent girl on his back was in. It sure sounded simple but, unlike his partner, who had almost blew their cover when she left the room without first checking to see if the coast was clear, Mido knew that their escape would not go unnoticed for much longer, especially after that tremor that hit the building as they had made their way to the silent greenette's room.

Speaking of the greenette, Mido could not believe how similar she was to that loudmouth in blue the Arcadia Movement had him dueling against for the better part of two weeks. If it were not for the fact that she seemed to be eerily quiet, Mido almost thought there was only one greenette playing the part of both brother and sister- as far fetched and insane as it sounds.

It was either that or she had fallen asleep on his back.

"Hey. You awake back there?" He whispered over his shoulder hearing the greenette ' _eep_ ' when she realised he was talking to her.

"S-Sorry. Were you wanting to talk?" She asked timidly.

' _Why would I want to talk when we're sneaking around?'_ "You were just being too quiet." Mido grunted in reply. ' _Should've just kept my mouth shut.'_

"Oh, sorry." She apologized.

' _Great. Now she's a broken record_.' Mido mentally groaned. He was starting to regret offering to go after Loudmouth with the girl to let Tangerine help Crabby rescue the Witch.

Fortunately for the greenette, his grandfather had made sure to teach him about a true man and duelist's 'code of honor' among other things before passing away. A true man always kept his word so, as much as he would like nothing more than to drop this apologizing greenette and get out of this building by himself, he had no choice but to see things through to the end.

To reach the end however, he first needed to find Loudmouth and hope that the green haired brat in blue was in a cooperative mood- he did beat the boy in every duel they had after all. Unfortunately, the room where they would likely find him appeared to have few doorman present and Mido highly doubted they had been there long.

' _So they knew someone would come for Loudmouth and just had them wait here instead of searching.'_ Mido thought as he sized up the two wondering if he could take the two of them on by himself.

"What's going on?" Luna asked wondering why they had suddenly stopped.

"Your brother has a couple watchdogs. Can you stand?" Mido replied before abruptly letting go of Luna who just barely managed to land on her feet although she quickly latched onto his shirt to prevent losing her balance.

"What are you going to do?" The greenette asked once she was sure her legs were not going to give out beneath her.

' _Offer them cookies in exchange for taking Loudmouth away from here along with you._ ' Mido thought sarcastically. "Negotiate."

Blinking in confusion at what he meant, Luna stumbled forward when Mido suddenly walked off towards the two Arcadia movement members robbing her of her support. By the time she realised what the teen was about to do, Mido was already in plain sight of the two members and the grins they were sporting when they spotted him made her fear the worst.

"Well, well. This is a surprise." The be-speckled Movement member commented as he spotted Mido approach them."We were expecting our old roommate to be paying us a visit."

"If you don't want to duel him, Okita, I'll do it." The other member remarked readying his duel disk eagerly.

"Oh I wasn't implying my dislike of this turnout, Liquid." The one called Okita explained darkly. "I was merely expressing my hopes that Will had shown up along with Mr Midorikawa here."

"Yeah, well, our objective is to take down all trespassers and escapees. Once I deal with this one, we can inquire about hunting down Will when we show Mr Sayer our catch." Liquid said clearly wanting a chance to show off it appeared to Mido.

' _Tangerine's accomplices? Well, they sure don't seem to care much about her._ ' Mido thought as he readied his duel disk. "I don't care if it's one or both of you. I'll take you both on and take you both down!"

"Wait!"

' _What's that idiot doing?!_ ' Mido growled looking back to see Luna head towards him fumbling to activate her duel disk. ' _She's not really thinking of duelling is she? She can barely stand on her feet!'_

"Let me duel also!" Luna demanded. Seeing the pair of identical dark grins form on Liquid and Okita's face, Mido knew there was no chance now of getting the greenette to leave even if she suddenly got a change of heart. She might as well have stuck her head into the wild lion's mouth as he knew how this was going to turn out from the get go.

' _Tch! I liked her more when she was all quiet and apologizing for nothing_.' Mido thought. "Oi. You do know these two are supposedly psychic, right? A direct hit _will_ hurt and you're barely standing."

Despite being nervous and scared, Luna nodded taking her place beside Mido. She knew full well that she was likely going to be targeted but this was her brother they were holding and if she could at least keep their attention while Mido defeated them, she was willing to 'take a bullet' or whatever the saying went.

Shaking his head at the girl's stupidity and logic, if she had any that was, Mido turned his attention back to Okita and Liquid who were waiting expectantly for them to draw their respective hands.

"Well, then…" He muttered as he drew his hand.

" **Let's duel**!"

 _ **Luna & Mido: 4000**_

 _ **Liquid & Okita: 4000**_

"Ladies first." Okita offered his squinty eyes hiding an evil glint as he looked at the cards in his hand.

"Alright. I draw!" Luna declared drawing her sixth card. "I summon Spirit of the Breeze in defense mode and end my turn."

She knew she could do more but was worried she might ruin whatever plan of attack...what did Will call him again? Mido, was it? Regardless, Luna could only wait and see how her opponent would reply as her corporeal elemental spirit stood before her.

Spirit of the Breeze: **(3 ATK/DEF:0/1800)**

"I guess it's my turn now." Okita grinned drawing a card. "First, I'll blow away your defense with Back to Square One. By sending one card from my hand to the graveyard, I can return one monster on your field to the top of your deck."

Luna felt fear shoot up her spine as her only defense was sent to her deck. The worse part was, he had still to summon a monster and make an attack.

"And now, I summon to the field Reinforced Human Psychic Borg in attack mode." Okita's grinned became more of an evil sneer as the Frankenstein-like cybrog monster appeared before him holding a strange baton.

Reinforced Human Psychic Borg: **(4 ATK/DEF:1500/800)**

"And by removing my Doctor Cranium from my graveyard, I can increase his attack by 500 points!"

Reinforced Human Psychic Borg: **(4 ATK/DEF:1500/800-2000/800)**

"And now…" Okita paused for dramatics before pointing at a terrified Luna. "Reinforced Human Psychic Borg! Attack the girl with Psy-Baton strike!"

Baton glowing with the increase in strength, Reinforced Human Psychic Borg crossed the distance to Luna in a single bound. Before her or Mido could react, the monster swung its baton connecting painfully with Luna and sending her down the hall to land in a heap.

 _ **Luna & Mido:2000**_

' _The...hell…?!_ ' Mido thought not believing what he just saw.

He could have sworn they were rookies, hence why Tangerine had been bunking with them. Yet that attack rivaled that of the Witch.

"By the way, we were just given a little boost to our abilities thanks to Mr Sayer. Our attacks might sting a little more than usual." Okita pointed out pushing up his glasses.

' _In other words: this duel just got real…'_ Mido thought as he glared at Four-eyes.

* * *

Morphtronic cards scattered in all directions as the deck hit the ground. Leo however barely noticed his deck had slipped though his fingers. He had been in the middle of looking through his deck as he tried to come up with another strategy to take down Mido when a sharp pain shot through his chest, his heart even.

"Luna..." He muttered distantly, one hand clenched tightly.

While he might not be psychic like Sayer or that Black Rose Yusei beat, Leo knew without a shadow of a doubt that something bad had happened to his sister. And with no way of knowing where she was, not to mention getting out of this room, Leo could not protect her like an older brother should.

* * *

Will skidded to a stop a sudden chill shooting down her spine as if something terrible had just happened to someone close to her. Not realizing his friend had stopped, Yusei had only noticed he was alone when he reached the top of the staircase and looked back only to see Will still halfway up.

"Will?" He called out to her.

Blinking back into reality, Will looked at Yusei as if believing she had just missed her friend say something to her.

"Hm?" She asked in response.

"You okay there?" Yusei asked in concern.

"I...just..." Will muttered sounding like she was in another world for a second before shaking her head and coming back to the present. "Never mind. It was probably nothing."

Yusei frowned as he watched Will catch up to him then jog ahead. Something had definitely caught Will's attention to get her like that, he had seen that look many a time whenever something had happened to Kari. But Kari was not here, he knew too well that it could not have been her. It might have been because Luna was in trouble but his Mark had not flared up in warning, Goodwin had told him about some of the unique qualities of the Signer Marks during their last meet, so it had nothing to do with the Dark Signers.

Whatever was happening, Yusei knew that Will had sensed something in the back of her mind concerning someone. Be it Luna or someone else, Akiza perhaps, was up for debate.

Quickly catching up to Will, both Satellites skidded to a halt as a familiar figure stepped out in front of them.

"Well, well, well. Yusei Fudo. I should have known you were the cause of my diamond in the rough disappearing from her room." Sayer commented in greeting.

"Stuff the fancy words, Sayer! We just ran into each other by chance!" Will growled a fury building up inside of her as she remembered all he had done to her, from kidnapping her to brainwashing and trying to control her not to mention what he was doing to young kids like Luna and her brother.

"I didn't come here to fight, Sayer." Yusei cut in. "Where's Akiza? She's in danger."

"As if I'd tell you where my wild rose is." ' _At least while you're not under my control, that is'_ Sayer thought reaching for his deck. "However, seeing as you are here of your own accord, perhaps you would like to-"

Sayer stopped as a card whizzed passed his face nearly grazing his cheek.

"Yusei, find Aki." Will ordered of her friend not taking her eyes off Sayer. "Me and Sayer have some unfinished business from Satellite."

Technically, their duel had not even started when Will and Sayer first met two years ago in Satellite. But with the chance to keep the permed prat occupied while Yusei searched for Akiza upon her, there was no way Will could pass it up despite it meaning leaving the rescue of Akiza up to Yusei. Then again, Crow and herself had commented on Yusei possibly being a smooth talker with the girls were he not a gearhead several times in the past. Perhaps he would have a better chance should Akiza give him the chance talk before turning him into plant food.

Yusei nodded and ran passed Sayer who looked at him coolly as he passed before returning his attention to his rebellious diamond. Normally, he would just use a spell card on troublemakers like her but, after having such an easy match against that snooping little mouse, Sayer reckoned he might as well deal with this troublemaker the old fashioned way. Besides, he knew all the cards in that deck she had been given. He would discipline her then find Akiza and give her some 'encouraging words' for her battle against Yusei.

Come morning, he would have another Signer in his control and two keys to the Spirit World.

"So, here we are once more." Sayer smirked activating his duel disk.

 _ **Sayer: 4000**_

"Only this time, you aren't gonna be pulling that psychic spell crap on me!" Will retorted activating her own and drawing her hand.

 _ **Will: 4000**_

' _Oh contraire. This time, you're going to see what happens to trespassers and disobedient duelists._ ' Sayer thought darkly drawing his sixth card. "I summon Krebons to the field in attack mode and play two cards face down."

Krebons: **(2 ATK/DEF:1200/400)**

Ending his turn as the jester like monster appeared before him along with brief appearances of two cards before turning invisible, Sayer smirked as he stared at Will daring her to try and surprise him.

' _I'm gonna wipe that grin right off his face before this duel's over._ ' Will vowed as she drew a card. "My turn! I'll start by summoning Ranger of the Ancient Night in attack mode!"

' _What?!_ ' Was the only word shooting through Sayer's head as the purple haired archer appeared on Will's side of the field.

Ranger of the Ancient Night: **(4 ATK/DEF:1000/1500)**

There were no such cards in Will's deck, Sayer was _sure_ of it- he had made that deck himself and gave Sierra explicit instructions to tell Will _not_ to alter it in anyway. So why in the world was she playing that card?

"Like you said, Sayer. ' _Here we are once more_.' right down to the decks we used." Will smirked.

* * *

 _ **Fifteen Minutes Earlier**_

* * *

"Hold up a second, Will" Yusei quietly called out to Will as they left the open hall and into a stairwell.

Will blinked in surprise wondering what Yusei wanted when he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out another deck.

"Is that...?" She asked already knowing whose deck that was.

"One of the kids found it and gave it to us." Yusei explained quickly making sure to gloss over the details. "Crow gave it to me before I made my way to the city."

Will just nodded, doing her best not to break out in tears as a part of her was returned to its rightful place. All she needed to do now was return to Satellite, reunite with Kari and Crow, maybe introduce them to Luna who she was sure would become quick friends with her sister and maybe even Luna's brother, and everything would be perfect!

* * *

 _ **Present**_

* * *

" _Wow. He really does look like a prat with a perm_. "

Blinking in confusion, Will looked round quite sure she had heard that voice before and not too long ago either.

" _Hey, genius! Eyes front_! "

Looking where the voice was ordering her to look, Will almost let her jaw slacken when she saw Ranger of the Ancient Night, aka Yulie, staring at her pointedly.

"No way..." She muttered as realization hit her.

Either she was imagining things or her cards' had taken on the personality of their Spirit World counterparts. Whether it was just this one monster or her entire deck, Will was unsure but it still freaked the _heck_ out of her that this was happening to her.

" _Hey! Are you gonna do duel, or are you just gonna stare at me all day like an idiot?!_ " Yulie snapped impatiently.

"Huh? Oh, right!" Will muttered remembering where she was grabbing a spell card with a picture of Warrior of the Ancient Sword equipped with Ark of Wizel. "Next, I play the spell card Pactmaker's Contract! If I have an Ancient monster on the field, I can banish one card from my hand to special summon one Ark monster from my hand or deck in attack mode! So come out, Ark of Luthia!"

Ark of Luthia: **(3 ATK/DEF:1000/0)**

Grabbing the bow as it materialized before her, Yulie smirked as she pulled back on the bow string and launched a lavender bolt of light into the sky creating three green rings as if cutting through the sound barrier that encircled the archer, creating a pillar of light.

"And now, as you've probably realized, I'm tuning my level three Ark with my level four Archer to Synchro Summon Lost Knight Luthia in defense mode!" Will smirked as the pillar of light faded to reveal the pale blue form of the archer knight.

Lost Knight Luthia: **(7 ATK/DEF:1500/2500)**

"And I'm not done yet! I equip her with El'Liet allowing her to attack from defense position!" Will told Sayer pointing at him as she gave the command to fire. "Luthia! Attack Krebons with Luna Arrow!"

 _" You got it!_" Luthia replied sounding a lot like Yulie taking aim at the psychic jester and turning it into pixels.

 _ **Sayer: 3700**_

"That's just a taste of what's to come, Sayer!" Will promised the man who was no longer smiling as he realized this duel might be just that _little_ bit harder than he first expected.

* * *

Luna whimpered painfully where she lay her eyes welling with tears from the pain coming from her left shoulder. It had suddenly dawned on her that this duel was a lot more dangerous even than those turbo duels Leo loved to watch. If not for the fact that she was doing this for her brother, Luna dearly wanted nothing more than to run away and hide from the world for the rest of her life. But then that would also mean letting down Ancient Fairy Dragon and her friends in the Spirit World also.

"Oi!" Mido's voice rang out near her and suddenly her view was blocked by a pair of red sneakers as her duel partner knelt down before her. "Oi! You still with me there?!"

"I'm fine." Luna lied unable to hide the wince as Mido helped her into a sitting position.

She could tell through watery eyes that he did not believe her and had to bite her lip to stop from yelling out in pain when he tapped her on her injured shoulder. She reckoned he was probably thinking about how pathetic she was as a partner: second turn and already they were down to half their life points with an empty field while their opponents' were unharmed and controlled one monster.

Speaking of their opponent's...

"If I may interrupt your moment, I just want you to know I'm ending my turn." Okita called out to them.

' _So they want to play rough, do they?_ ' Mido thought as he made to stand up only to stop when he felt Luna grab hold of his shirt with her uninjured arm and tugged. ' _Now what?'_

"I know we've only just met but...can you promise me something?" Luna asked quietly. "Rescue Leo and get him out of here once you've finished your turn. I'll hold them off as long as I- _OW_!"

This time, Luna was unable to keep it in as Mido patted her injured arm.

"What was that for?!" She whimpered tearfully.

"For being an idiot! You won't last a _turn_ against them!" Mido told her untying the jacket tied round his waist.

As Luna winced as if being mentally slapped by him, Mido turned his jacket into a makeshift sling roping it around Luna's neck and duel disk to alleviate the pain and pressure on her left arm caused by her duel disk.

"If I went along with your stupid request, I'd get an earful from Loudmouth and Tangerine for abandoning you. Not only that, I'd be breaking my word that I would get the two of you out of here and somewhere safe." Mido told her giving Luna back her cards that had been scattered across the floor when she had gotten hit by the monster. "Now sit there, rest up and come up with a strategy to pull off with your hand while I take care of these two."

Anything Luna wished to say in protest died in her throat as she watched Mido stand up and walk towards Liquid and Okita. The look on his face scared her but, for reasons she could not understand, she also felt...safe for some reason like something inside of her knew that everything would be alright now.

As they watched Mido approach them, Liquid and Okita merely grinned as they awaited the teen's move. They knew that, so long as they focused their attention on the girl, he would be forced to go on the defensive in an attempt to hold them off. Sure, they might get an earful from Mr Sayer for injuring the girl but, as long as they 'held back' and refrained from outright killing her, the duel would be in the bag before it got back round to Okita again.

"So, you think you can take us on, do you?" Liquid taunted.

"He did say he could take us both on earlier. Now's his chance to show us what he can do... _If_ he can, that is." Okita added in provocation.

Mido paid no attention to them instead reached for his deck.

"My move." He declared drawing a card and glancing at it before adding it to his hand in exchange for three other cards and inserting them into his disk. "I'll play three cards face down then play the spell card Painful Choice. This allows me to select five monster cards from my deck but only add the one you choose to my hand while the rest go to my graveyard."

Removing his deck from his disk, Mido quickly plucked five cards scattered within his deck and returned the deck to its place on the disk. As the automatic shuffle feature of the disk reshuffled his deck, the teen walked over to Liquid and Okita and held out the five cards for them to see.

"Take you pick: Forbidden Gundam, Unicorn Gundam, Justice Gundam, Raider Gundam and Calamity Gundam." He told them fanning the cards out for the two Arcadia Movement duelists to see the mech monsters and their effects.

Immediately, Okita's mind was working overtime as he looked over the effects of the monsters. While all five were high level monsters, three of them had both 'Discard from hand' and 'Banish from graveyard' abilities, another could be summoned without tribute under the right conditions and the last was a Gemini monster with an attack increase ability. Too bad Okita could see where this was going.

' _I see. He's wanting us to choose the lesser of five equally respective evils here._ ' Okita thought as he processed what he was seeing. ' _Seeing how he's put most of his hand face down, he's wanting us to choose Justice Gundam then get rid of the rest of his hand to summon it assuming he doesn't use Raider Gundam's Banish ability.'_

"Unicorn Gundam." Okita answered pointing to the card with the picture of a white mech with a horn on its helmet similar to a unicorn earning its namesake. _'Even if he summons it, he can't use its ability again until he summons it again during his next turn- by which time it will have been dealt with along with their life points!'_

Adding the selected card to his hand, Mido put the other four Gundams into the graveyard as he made his way back to his side of the field.

"Now that that's done, I'll play the spell card Monster Reincarnation." Mido said playing another spell card and putting Okita on edge as he realized what was about to happen. "Now by sending one card to the graveyard, in this case my Unicorn Gundam, I can return one monster card to my hand. And I choose Calamity Gundam!"

' _What?_!' Okita thought in disbelief. ' _He get's rid of one more card from his hand, he could summon Justice Gundam without tribute! So why...'_

"Next I'll activate Raider Gundam's ability: by removing him from my graveyard, I can summon one level five or higher Gundam monster without tribute allowing me to summon Freedom Gundam in attack mode!" Mido declared removing one card from his graveyard then slapping another card onto his desk.

From a hole suddenly appearing before Mido, a white and black mech with blue wing-like structures on its back passed through. Once fully emerged, the mech's eyes lit up brandishing the shield and rifle it wielded in its hands.

Freedom Gundam: **(7 ATK/DEF:2600/2300)**

"Freedom Gundam! Destroy their cyber psycho!" Mido ordered. "Balaena/Xiphias Cannons!"

Blue wings fully expanding as thrusters on its feet and back came to life, Freedom Gundam's hip and top wing mounted cannons unfolded unleashing four barrels of plasma and railgun artillery at the Reinforced Human Psychic Borg who might as well have been wet paper as the beams tore effortlessly through it causing it to explode spectacularly while the beams kept on going to strike Liquid and Okita who yelled out in surprise and pain as they were flung to the ground.

 _ **Liquid and Okita: 2900**_

' _He hurt them!_ ' Luna thought in surprise as the two in question painfully sat up to stare at Mido in a new light.

All of a sudden, that strange, unknown feeling inside of her grew as she started to believe that they could win this.

* * *

 **Leo: You said I'd be in this one!**

 **Free: You are.**

 **Leo: That was barely _two_ paragraphs! I better have a bigger part in the next paragraph!**

 **Free: Yeah, yeah- I'll see what I can do next year.**

 **Leo: But that's a _year_ away!**

 **Luna: Leo, you do know 2016 is less than a _week_ away, don't you?**

 **Leo: ...**

 **Free: While the genius checks a calendar, on behalf of everyone doing this fic, I wish you a merry christmas, ask you to review & warn Grey that whatever she's doing behind my back better stop before it puts her in hospital.**

 **(Grey quickly puts fishing rod & mistletoe behind her back as Free looks at her)**

 **Grey: (whistles innocently)**

 **Luna: Also, if you're wondering about any original cards used in this chapter, just scroll further down.**

* * *

 _ **Original Cards**_

* * *

Pactmaker's Contact

Spell/Normal  
Activate when you control an Ancient monster. Banish one card in your hand to special summon one Ark monster from your deck to the field in face up attack mode.

Forbidden Gundam

Dark  
8  
ATK/DEF:0/2000  
[ _Machine/Effect_ ] Discard this card from your hand to negate any damage to your life points this turn. If this card is in your graveyard: banish it to negate 1 attack from a monster your opponent controls (You cannot activate this effect during the turn this card was sent to the graveyard by its own effect).

Calamity Gundam

Dark  
8  
ATK/DEF:2000/0  
[ _Machine/effect_ ] Discard this card from your hand to increase the ATK of 1 Gundam you control by the original ATK your opponent controls. If this card is in your graveyard: banish it to grant piercing damage to all Gundam monsters you control (You cannot activate this effect during the turn this card was sent to the graveyard by its own effect).

Raider Gundam

Dark  
8  
ATK/DEF:1500/1500  
[ _Machine/Effect_ ] Discard this card from your hand to decrease the levels of all Gundam monsters by 2 until the end of this turn. If this card is in your graveyard: banish it to summon 1 Gundam monster without tribute (You cannot activate this effect during the turn this card was sent to the graveyard by its own effect).

Justice Gundam

Light  
7  
ATK/DEF:2700/2000  
[ _Machine/Effect_ ] If this is the only card in your hand: summon this card without tribute.

Unicorn Gundam

Earth  
8  
ATK/DEF:2400/1900  
[ _Machine/Gemini_ ] This card is treated as a 'normal monster' while face up on the field or in the graveyard. While this card is a normal monster while on the field: normal summon it to make it an effect monster & gain this effect. This card gains 200 to ATK & DEF for every effect monster on the field.

Freedom Gundam

Light  
7  
ATK/DEF:2600/2300  
[ _Machine_ ] A prototype assault mech equipped with powerful ranged weapons capable of taking down multiple enemies at a time.


	14. Knightly Payback and Bad Omens!

**Leo: Now, I better have a better part than in the last chapter.**

 **Free: For the last time yes.**

 **Leo: Will I also get paired up with someone my age?**

 **Free: Maybe later on- and not with Luna before you ask.**

 **Leo: Good! Why do people keep putting us together like that?**

 **Free: Probably because their aren't many kids you age in the series bar your schoolmates & Lester.**

 **Leo: You're not pairing my sister with him, are you?**

 **Free: Definitely not. Now do the disclaimer already!**

 **Leo: Okay, okay. (rereads piece of paper) Evergrey and Greenwing don't own 5D's, Gundam and White Knight Chronicles just the words below. Good?**

 **Free: (sweatdrops)...Yeah...good…**

* * *

Sirens blared throughout New Domino City. As the people panicked and emergency services did what they could to alleviate those in need, two figures stood before the Arcadia Movement building as if separate from the rest of the chaos.

"It's time." The woman in blue said calmly and coldly turning to the teen beside her whose attire looked as though she had just dropped through a glass roof. "Find the one who did this to you."

The girl nodded her eyes glassed over but still of sound mind. A single thought and focus firmly in her mind: seek and destroy Sayer!

* * *

"Let me out of here!" Leo yelled as he banged on the door with his fists.

His hands and voice were sore from continual use but, knowing that Luna was in danger, he could not give up not until he got out of here.

"Leo, is that you?!" A familiar voice called out to him from the other side of the door.

"Yannagi?" Leo exclaimed in surprise not expecting to hear the old timer's voice in a place full of psychic jerks. "What're you doing here?"

"Step away from the door, lad. Tanner's about to break it down!" The old slum dweller warned the greenette.

As much as he wanted to ask why the old guy and former pro duelist were here, Leo quickly hastened to the far side of the room.

Seconds later, the door caved as something heavy collided with it from the other side. Several collisions later, the door finally gave way slamming onto the ground followed by the well built man that had put his entire weight behind his charge.

"Leo!" He called out as he stood up.

"You alright, kiddo?" Yannagi asked as he stepped into the room.

"I'm fine, but we need to find Luna! And also…" Leo pointed at them through the window showing him the cell next door where they were. "Why are you in there?"

* * *

One smashed window later, Leo was finally free from his cell and had ran off before Tanner or Yannagi could stop him. With his sister in danger, he could not stand around explaining how that jerk with a perm had kidnapped him and Luna nor how they had ended up in here also. For all he knew, that guy could be the one hurting his sister right now.

* * *

It was always satisfying to bring down a self-centered and or egotistical jerk in Will's opinion. She did not know whether it was just her that thought that but did not want to know if others felt like that. What she did know was that, right now, she was giving Sayer the beatdown he deserved for using and molding innocent people into tools of some big plan he had going on which she preferred not knowing about.

 _ **Will: 4000**_

Lost Knight Luthia: **(7 ATK/DEF: 1500/2500)**

" _You gonna stand there gloating or finish our turn?_ " Luthia asked putting her empty hand on her his impatiently.

"Hold on! Why do you sound like Yulie?" Will asked out of the blue.

 _"Is this really the time and place for that? "_ Luthia asked motioning to Sayer who was staring at them, or rather just Will, like she was crazy.

"Oh, right! I play one card face down and end my turn." Will finished lamely.

Like Luthia said- or Yulie or _whoever_ it was inside that armor- she needed to keep her head in the duel and take out Sayer as soon as possible then see how Yusei was getting on convincing Akiza to leave the building. She also needed to find out if Mido had kept his word and had gotten Luna and her brother out and away from here also.

On his side of the field, Sayer was staring at Will with curiosity. Unless she had suddenly gone crazy, his diamond in the rough had just communicated with her monster suggesting that she had indeed visited the Spirit World just after being sent to her cell. If that was true, then his day was truly looking brighter.

 _ **Sayer: 3700**_

"My turn…" Sayer began drawing a card then activating one of his facedowns. "And I'll begin by activating my spell card: Telekinetic Power Well. It let's me special summon any level two or lower psychic monster in my graveyard allowing me to revive Krebons."

 _ **Sayer: 3100**_

Krebons: **(2 ATK/DEF:1200/400)**

"True, I have to pay six hundred life points for this," Sayer explained as the psychic jester rematerialized on the field. "But it'll be worth it once I summon Mind Protector in defense mode!"

As Will watched as the gold and purple, spark sprouting machine appeared beside Krebons, she knew what monster her opponent was about to summon next.

Mind Protector: **(3 ATK/DEF:0/2200)**

"Now that everything's in place, I tune level two Krebons to level three Mind Protector to Synchro Summon Magical Android in attack mode!" Sayer called out as Krebons and Mind Protector tuned together to create a futuristic looking mage. "I'll now end my turn. Doing so activates my Android's ability increasing my life points by six hundred points."

Magical Android: **(5 ATK/DEF:2400/1700)**

 _ **Sayer: 3700**_

 _'Just you wait, Satellite._ ' Sayer thought as he looked at his hand and the cards he still held. ' _Come next turn, you're going to see just how wrong it is to make me your enemy.'_

Will frowned as she stared at her kidnapper. She knew Sayer could have done more than just summon a healer to the field. Clearly he was getting ready to synchro summon a more powerful monster and was just using Magical Android to prevent her from dealing anymore damage to him before he could mount his counter assault.

"It's my turn!" Will called out drawing a card only to pause when she saw what she had pulled.

 _'Warrior of the Ancient Sword…_ ' She thought staring at the card. Would it be a repeat of Ranger of the Ancient Night and Leonard would show up and start talking also? There was only one way she was going to find out.

"I summon Warrior of the Ancient Sword in attack mode." Will proclaimed slapping the card down on her duel disk.

As the familiar form of the ponytailed swordsman materialised on her side of the field, Will subconsciously held her breath as she waited to see if the warrior acted just like his Spirit World counterpart.

Warrior of the Ancient Sword: **(3 ATK/DEF: 1300/1400)**

" _Huh_?" Leonard exclaimed in mild confusion as he looked around before finally settling on Will. " _Shouldn't you and Luna be escaping this place instead of dueling_?"

"Shouldn't you not be talking while in this world?!" Will retorted before she could stop herself. ' _Gah! This is getting more and more stressful than that time the guys decided to give Kari anonymous Valentines presents- and **not** tell me about it beforehand, the jerks!'_

Talking a calming breath, Will forcefully told herself to focus on the matter at hand. As much as she wanted to be high tailing it out of here with Luna back to Satellite or somewhere just as safe, Will knew she had to deal with Sayer first otherwise that silver tongue of his could spell disaster should he find Akiza before her or Yusei could get the misguided girl out of this jerk's clutches.

"Okay...Where was I…?" Will muttered getting herself back on track. "Right...Because I have Lost Knight Luthia on the field, through my Warrior's ability, I can special summon Ark of Wizel from my deck to the field!"

Ark of Wizel: **(3 ATK/DEF:0/500)**

"Now, I tune my level three Ark with my level three Warrior to Synchro Summon Lost Knight Wizel in attack mode!" Will proclaimed as Leonard grabbed hold of the gauntlet that just appeared on the field and used it to transform into the synchro monster White Knight Wizel.

Lost Knight Wizel: **(6 ATK/DEF:1500/1700)**

 _" **Now** we're getting somewhere!_ " Wizel, sounding an awful lot like Leonard, proclaimed boldly as he readied his sword.

"Don't go getting eager for battle, Leonard." Will warned her monster before turning to her opponent. "Turn over. Your move, Sayer."

"You're too kind- I draw and also activate the Psychic Trigger trap card allowing me to draw an additional two cards by removing Krebons and Mind Protector from my graveyard!" Sayer proclaimed drawing three cards and adding them to his hand grinning as he liked what he had drawn.

 _" I don't like that smile_." Luthia noted.

" _You don't like **any** smile your opponent makes. "_ Wizel commented.

 _" Oh, shut up!_" Luthia snapped back.

"It's over for you my little diamond. I summon Psychic Commander in attack mode!" Sayer began summoning the psychic tuner in its futuristic looking tank. "Now, get ready to feel the true might of a psychic duelist! I use my level three Psychic Commander to tune my level five Magical Android to Synchro Summon Thought Ruler Archfiend!" Sayer proclaimed as the pillar of light formed by the synchro summon sequence created a black mist from which came a towering winged archfiend that was half green, half skeleton and all trapped within a blue spell circle that suddenly materialized around it. "Wha-?!"

Sayer was left speechless as he watched his trump card suddenly disappear before his eyes. He could not understand how that could happen until a cold chill rushed through him as he remembered his opponent had a card that had been set during her first turn. A quick look proved his theory as it was now standing to show a picture of a blonde female chanting something while kneeling inside the same spell circle that had been around his Archfiend.

"Finally caught on, have we?" Will smirked. "I knew you'd try to bring out your big guns to take me down hard so, when I noticed I had Ancient Sealing Magic in my hand, I had to set it while I had the chance. When you synchro summoned your so called Thought Ruler, I activated it negating your summon and banishing the summon material!"

Sayer could only bare his teeth in an angry snarl. His entire hand was now useless now that Will had robbed him of monsters on the field and graveyard and was forced to end his turn with an empty field.

"Now then, as much as I want to go overkill on your sorry ass, I've wasted enough time with this duel!" Will proclaimed as she drew a card. "So I'll just remove the top three cards from my deck to boost my Lost Knight Wizel's attack then have my Knights do the rest. Leonard! Yulie! Take him down a few pegs!"

Lost Knight Wizel: **(ATK:1500- ATK:2400)**

"Got it!" Wizel nodded charging forward and leaping at Sayer with a jumping downward attack. "White Steel Slash!"

" _This is for trying to take our master away! "_ Yulie proclaimed aiming her bow at Sayer. _" Lunar Arrow!_"

Momentarily stunned, Sayer instinctively covered his head with his arms as the glowing attacks of white and purple struck him.

 _ **Sayer: 0**_

"Curse you!" Sayer growled absolutely lived. It was bad enough she had beaten him but, to make him actually cower in fear from an attack that was not real, he was going wipe her of any thought of going against him. If not for the fact that she might be useful to him, he would do much worse to her.

"Hey, I warned you years ago." Will grinned arrogantly at the defeated man.

She wanted to say something along the lines of "You should have listened to me back in Satellite" or something equally fitting but figured it pointless as, were she not here, how would Luna escape from here? Then again, Mido would have likely found a chance to escape sooner or later without her help and if he was going to free Luna's brother like he claimed, he would then have had to free Luna also...right?

"You're right." Sayer agreed recalling their first face-to-face meet. "I should have just done what I did back then. _Hinotama_!"

Having not seen Sayer pull a card from his deck, Will was caught off guard when the psychic duelist revealed the fireball spell card from which a ball of fire speared towards her.

' _Crap_!' Will mentally swore frozen as she watched the ball of real fire come hurtling towards her.-

Then suddenly deflect off the barrier that flared up in front of her sending it straight back at Sayer exploding right in his face the force knocking him out long before he landed at the far end of the hallway.

'What...just happened?' Will asked in confusion before noticing how warm her pocket was.

Reaching inside, Will gasped as she pulled out the spell card Alastor had given her which was glowing slightly. Unless she was mistaken, this card was the reason as to how she had survived Sayer's assault.

"Al, you are a lifesaver!" Will sighed mentally thanking the spellcaster before taking off hoping to catch up with Yusei before he found Akiza.

* * *

Like the child she was, Luna stared slightly slack-jawed at her dueling partner and his monster. Not only had Mido just destroyed their opponent's monster and leveled the playing field, he had also sent Liquid and Okita to the ground also.

 _ **Luna & Mido: 2000**_

Freedom Gundam: **(7 ATK/DEF: 2600/2300)**

Snapping out of her stunned state, as well as averting her eyes when she noticed she was staring, Luna quickly scolded herself as she remembered that she was in a building full of psychics weak and powerful. It would explain why Mido was here but not wearing the uniform like Will or their opponents. Like her, he had probably been taken in against his will and was likely going to be the same as the two Arcadia Movement member's also had Will not busted him out.

On their side of the field, Liquid and Okita slowly got to their feet feeling like they had just had the wind knocked out of them.

 _ **Liquid & Okita: 2900**_

"What was that just now?" Liquid asked holding his stomach feeling like someone had just given him right a gut punch.

"Well, Mr Midorikawa was invited here because of the psychic prowess Mr Sayer believes he has- granted this is the first time I think it's been shown since coming here." Okita added sorting his glasses and looking at Mido in a different light.

After seeing the cards shown from Painful Choice, Okita had assumed Mido had wanted to summon Justice Gundam, whose ability allowed it to be summoned without tribute, after using or setting the rest of his hand. Did that mean those three facedowns on his and Luna's field were not just useless cards but perhaps trap or quick-play spell cards? Whatever they were, Okita knew that only time would tell for that answer.

What he did know, was that this duel would not be as easy as he had first predicted.

"Alright. My turn!" Liquid declared drawing a card.

Seeing the grin appear on Liquid's face, Luna's stomach dropped a notch as she feared what was about to befall her and Mido.

"I play the spell card, Brain Control! By paying 800 life points, I can control one of your monsters for the remainder of my turn!" Liquid said as a blue framed card materialised before him with a picture of a brain about to be grabbed by a pair of fiendish hands. "And seeing as you only have one monster on the field, even you should know what's about to happen!"

 _ **Liquid & Okita: 2100**_

Coming out of the card, the fiendish hands latched onto Freedom Gundam which struggled for a moment before getting pulled onto Liquid and Okita's side of the field, it's eyes now glowing an evil red.

"Now, let's see how you handle your own monster attacking you directly. Monster, take aim at the girl and fire!" Liquid ordered pointing a finger at Luna.

'No!' Luna thought fearfully shaking so bad at the thought of what those laser cannons would do when they struck her that it was fortunate she was already sitting down.

Not that it would be of much comfort. If those lasers hit, it would do more than just reduce their life points to zero, that much she was certain. All she could do was close her eyes and pray that she survived the attack completely forgetting about her partner who was not at all perturbed by the situation at hand.

"I activate my facedown card: Mirage Colloid System!" Mido called out pressing a button on his disk causing one of his three face down cards to flip up revealing a picture of a half transparent black mech, likely a Gundam monster, in a purple frame. "This allows me to special summon Blitz Gundam from my deck in attack mode!"

Hearing Mido speak, Luna opened one eye to see what was happening only to gasp when the air in front of her shimmered then went black as a black mecha with red trimmings materialized in front of her as if it had always been there and only now became visible.

Blitz Gundam: **(3 ATK/DEF: 700/1400)**

"You're new monster's attack points might keep you in the game but it's not gonna stop this from hurting!" Liquid smirked.

Even if they did survive the turn, Liquid knew that the girl would not be likely to do much and, even if she did manage to do something, Okita would likely be able to put the odds back in their favor and finish them off. With that thought in mind, Liquid did nothing to stop the attack forgetting a critical move Mido had made during his turn.

"Liquid, wait!" Okita called out to him realizing he was still attacking instead of jumping to main phase 2.

"Too late!" Mido said sending the one remaining card in his hand to the graveyard. "I send Calamity Gundam from my hand to the graveyard to increase Blitz Gundam's attack points by those of Freedom Gundam's!"

Blitz Gundam: **(ATK:700-ATK:3300)**

Aiming the beam rifle built into it's shield at the enemy, Blitz Gundam began sending round after round into Freedom Gundam. At the same time, another Gundam appeared behind Blitz sporting multiple cannons- two shoulder mounted beam cannons, a chest mounted energy cannon, a bazooka and a double barreled shield rifle- and brought new meaning to the phrase 'bringing the rain' as it backed up Blitz Gundam into destroying the white and blue mecha and once again sending Liquid and Okita to the floor.

 _ **Liquid & Okita: 1400**_

"Dammit!" Liquid growled quickly jumping back to his feet. "Don't go thinking you're in the clear yet! I summon Grapple Blocker in defense mode! And when summoned, his effect allows me to prevent one of your monsters being used to attack or be used for tribute!"

Grapple Blocker: **(4 ATK/DEF: 1200/2000)**

Watching as the tentacled monster rose from a portal in front of him, Liquid grinned as the creature reached out with it's tentacles to bind the black mecha only to balk as it suddenly became trapped in a red beam emanating from another of Mido's cards that had suddenly flipped up.

"What is that?!" He exclaimed in surprise.

"When you summoned your monster, you activated my trap card: NT-D System! This allows me to sacrifice your monster and a Gundam I control to special summon a certain Gundam from the graveyard!" Mido explained as the red light emanating from the trap card absorbed Blitz Gundam and Grapple Blocker. "Come forth! Unicorn Gundam!

Once it absorbed both monsters, the cards glowed an angry red before blowing up creating a dimensional hole from which a white mecha materialised from.

Unicorn Gundam: **(8 ATK/DEF: 2400/1900)**

"And that's not all! Because he was summoned by my trap card, Unicorn Gundam is automatically treated as an effect monster allowing him to gain 200 attack points for every effect monster on the field- including itself!" Mido added as the white mecha grew it seemed when the seems of its armor plating separated, shifted then locked up again in its new position leaving the glowing red under armor exposed for all to see.

Unicorn Gundam: **(ATK:2400-ATK-2600)**

Liquid swore as he grabbed another card from his hand. He had wanted to save this for his next turn, should this duel actually last that long, but with the way things were, he would still not be getting it for different reasons.

"You won't be keeping it on the field long enough to use it! I use Lightning Vortex to wipe out your monster and end my turn!" Liquid shouted grinning almost maniacally as he watched the bolt of lightning vaporize the monster. _'Try countering **that**!_ '

"And I'll reveal my trap card in response!" Mido declared activating his final face down. "I activate Dark History and special summon all Gundams destroyed this turn back to the field!"

' _No...way!_ ' Liquid thought as he watched the last trap card shatter into two pieces of light that transformed into Freedom Gundam and Unicorn Gundam respectively. ' _No... **fricking**...way!'_

Freedom Gundam: **(7 ATK/DEF: 2600/2300)**

Unicorn Gundam: **(8 ATK/DEF: 2400/1900)**

He was not the only person to be thinking that.

 _'So this was his plan all along!_ ' Okita thought despite his surprise. He had assumed Mido had just used those other cards as fodder to make him select Justice Gundam but had it the other way around.

' _Wow…'_ Was the only thought running through Luna's mind as she recovered from the impressive chain of cards. She had watched duels where the control of the game had gone from one duelist to another's before but never before had she seen, let alone experienced a rally like that. She had done nothing but watch during it but it still had her heart beating beyond what was natural.

Until it almost stopped as she realized that it was her turn again. After seeing the level of skill being shown both by her opponents and her partner, Luna just knew she could not match any of them. If anything, her turn was going to appear more amateur in comparison especially since she was actually watching the duel instead of thinking of a strategy using the cards in her hand.

 _'I can't do this!_ ' She thought desperately biting her lip as she stared at the ground.

It might be a tag duel, but the Gundam monsters on their side of the field belonged to Mido so while their life points were safe, she could not use them to attack. Perhaps it would be better to just play Spirit of the Breeze in defense mode again and then pray it was enough to keep her partner happy.

"I...summon Spirit of the Breeze in defense mode and end my turn." She muttered after drawing her card unable to look at Mido as he stared at her no doubt angrily for such a pathetic move.

Spirit of the Breeze: **(3 ATK/DEF: 0/1800)**

'So much for thinking she's as decent a duelist as her brother.' Mido thought as he switched his attention from her to their opponents. 'Even if she didn't have a monster with 1400 attack points, she could have at least whittled them down a bit!'

Because of the greenette's lack of an offensive turn, Mido had a strong suspicion they would take this as a lucky break and try to make the most of it. How they would do that was the question.

"My turn! And I'll start by summoning Destructotron to the field in attack mode!" Okita began summoning a creepy looking robot to the field.

Destructotron: **(4 ATK/DEF: 1600/400)**

"Now, by playing the spell card Emergency Teleport, I summon Psychic Commander to the field also." Okita continued now summoning a military looking psychic in a hovertank.

Psychic Commander: **(3 ATK/DEF:1400/800)**

"And now, I tune my level 3 Commander to my level 4 Destructotron to Synchro Summon Psychic Lifetrancer in attack mode!"

Firing its cannon which fired a shell that transformed into three green rings, the hovertank burst into pixels. Contained within the centre of the rings as they hovered around it, Destructotron transformed into four spheres of light before exploding into a pillar of light. As the light faded, a long haired girl with half of her body replaced with machinery could be seen now standing where the two psychic types once stood.

Psychic Lifetrancer: **(7 ATK/DEF: 2400/2000)**

"As much as I would love to destroy the young girl's monster, I'll merely activate my Lifetrancer's ability: by removing a psychic monster from my graveyard, I can regain twelve hundred life points." Okita grinned removing Destructotron from his graveyard. "I'll end my turn by playing the spell card Nightmare Steelcage preventing all players from attacking until the little lady's next turn."

 _ **Liquid & Okita: 2600**_

Playing the spell card, two huge cages fell down from the air one imprisoning Liquid, Okita and Psychic Lifetrancer while the other encaged Luna, Mido and the two mecha monsters.

' _This should give us a chance to come up with a plan of attack_.' Okita thought as he glanced at Liquid. At least they prevented Mido from going on the offensive again this turn.

 _'So they're taking this duel seriously now_.' Mido thought as he drew a card. "My turn! And I'll play the spell card Treasure Cards from the Heavens! This allows us all to draw cards until we hold six cards in our hand!"

Now with a full hand, Mido could formulate a proper plan of attack to win their battle and keep his word to Tangerine. Having had to re-summon Unicorn Gundam, he would have to summon it again to make it an effect monster should this strategy not work. He would also need to have a word with his partner about her commitment to duelling. She had jumped into this battle willingly after all.

"From my hand, I'll play the spell card Polymerization! This allows me to combine from my hand Strike Gundam and Buster Gundam to fusion summon Strike Gundam: Launcher Striker!"

Materializing in front of Mido, the two new mechs became engulfed in a glowing sphere which dispersed to reveal a white and blue mecha with a large beam cannon mounted on its back.

Strike Gundam: Launcher Striker **(6 ATK/DEF:2000/1000)(Counters: 3)**

"When summoned successfully, Launcher Striker gains three Strike Counters. This allows me, by removing one Strike Counter, to destroy one face up card you control- like your steel cages!" Mido said pointing directly at Okita's card. "Strike Gundam: Launcher Striker, destroy Nightmare Steelcage with Agni Cannon!"

Strike Gundam Launcher Striker : **(Counters: 2)**

Grabbing hold of the large cannon with it's left arm as it swung forward along its left hip, the white, blue and green mecha launched a high velocity particle beam at the spell card destroying it and removing its effect from the field.

"With Nightmare Steelcage removed, the rest of my Gundams can now finish off what they started. Freedom Gundam, destroy their monster with Balaena/Xiphias Cannons!" Mido ordered pointing at Psychic Lifetrancer.

Aiming all it's barrels at the psychic woman, the white and blue mecha perforated the monster wiping it off the field.

 _ **Liquid & Okita: 2400**_

"Unicorn Gundam! Finish them off with Beam Magnum!"

Aiming it's six-shot rifle at the two Arcadia Movement duelists, the pure white mecha fired two shots both hitting their targets and sending them skidding across the floor unconscious.

 _ **Liquid & Okita: 0**_

"Are they…?" Luna refrained from finishing her sentence.

"I held back." Mido assured her deactivating his duel disk and turning to the still sitting girl who quickly averted her eyes as she realised what was coming.

Mido really wanted to lay into her for her lame-ass duelling but, seeing her all meek and ready to break down in tears, the mecha master wisely decided to let it slide partly because he did not want to deal with a sobbing pre-teen and the fact he would likely catch hell from Loudmouth and Tangerine and he much prefered they bothered him much while under his roof when they got away from this place.

"Look," He said as he knelt down in front of her. "if you really care about your brother, then you need to have more confidence and take care of yourself."

Disbelieving what she was hearing, Luna looked at Mido in surprise having not expected to hear him say something like that. Especially to her of all people.

"Now come on. Let's go find that brother of yours and get out of here." Mido suggested getting to his feet and offering his hand to the girl.

Nodding, Luna took the offered hand and got to her feet declining a piggyback after managing to stand properly without assistance. She could not help but look at Mido in a new light now reminded of Yusei somewhat- just a lot more serious and taciturn than the man from Satellite.

"Luna!"

Gasping, Luna whirled round to see Leo running towards her followed closely by Tanner and Yannagi.

"Leo?" Luna whispered in surprise. "But...How did…?"

"Are you alright? What happened to you? Did this jerk hurt you also?" Leo asked in rapid fire noticing her injured arm and quickly putting himself between his sister and Mido looking at him angrily. "So you got tired of me and started to pick on my sister, huh? Now I'm gonna hafta beat you twice as hard for what you've done to us!"

"So, you managed to get out also." Mido replied as if he had not just been accused of picking on kids from a kid.

Luna did not know what to be more shocked about: Mido and Leo knowing one another or Mido apparently hurting Leo the same way she had just seen him take out the two Arcadia Movement members.

"Yeah! And now that I know Luna's safe, I'm gonna duel you with everything I've got!" Leo replied readying his duel disk. "Let's-"

"Leo, this isn't the time for that, we need to get out of here!" Luna suddenly snapped making her brother jump back slightly. "And Mido actually helped save me not hurt me!"

To say that Leo was stunned at her words would be an understatement. He had duelled Mido at least once every couple of days and never once did he win against the teen causing him to get electrocuted more times than he would like to remember. And now he was helping Luna, his sister, no doubt trying to take her away from him also. He did not know whether to be worried or angry about that.

"She's got a point, Leo. We need to get out of here before anymore psychic duelists show up." Tanner suggested hoping the boy could wait until they were anywhere else rather than here before squaring against the teen.

Conceding to the seriousness of the situation, Leo reluctantly agreed with Tanner but still gave Mido a glare promising that this was not over. For his part, Mido paid him no attention instead making his way to the lift at the end of the hall followed closely by everyone else as the groans of the defeated psychic duelists reached their ears.

Realising they would soon be free, Leo could not help but suddenly feel more cheerful and was quick to spread the joy.

"GOING DOWN!"

"Leo!" Luna half groaned half scolded while everyone else glared at the green haired boy.

* * *

Sierra breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the kids getaway from Liquid and Okita relatively unharmed from the safety of the security office. She had been strongly against Sayer's idea to test the two brainwashed subjects especially when the procedure had not yet been completed and when she had seen what had happened to the girl, she had decided then and there to do everything she could to make sure they could escape should the subjects defeat them.

Watching with baited breath, Sierra could do nothing but watch as the duel progressed surprised when the teen, who she believed had been holding back when he dueled against the girl's brother, held his ground while delivering a sound defeat to two older duelists.

Now that things seemed to be looking brighter for the young ones without having to step in herself, Sierra knew now was the time to aid them in the only way she could praying it could buy them enough time to escape to safety.

* * *

Hearing the buzzing sound of the communicator built into his duel disk, Sayer groaned as he picked himself up. The last few minutes had been a blur but he was sure his diamond had somehow deflected his own psychic attack back at him. Clearly his diamond was more unique than even he first thought.

"What?!" He snapped angrily when he answered the call which could only have come from Sierra.

'Sir. I just thought you would want to know that the girl and teenager have been detained.' Sierra responded quickly. 'Both are relatively fine however the girl may need some medical care due to the...aggressiveness of the subjects.'

' _So long as she's still alive, I don't give a damn how damaged she becomes!_ ' Sayer thought grinning darkly as he picked himself up. "Have the subjects proceed to Akiza's location, I'll need them to help round up a couple Satellites scouring the halls."

He had chose those two primarily for, should his diamond escape before getting brainwashed herself, going against those she had lived with should hinder her enough to take her down and get her under his control permanently!

Believing things were finally looking his way, Sayer turned round to hunt down the Satellites only to freeze up at the sight of the battered looking girl before him.

"But you're…?!" Sayer started quite sure he had sent Carly plummeting to her death not even an hour ago.

* * *

 **Free: Satisfied?**

 **Leo: Don't you mean Enforcers?**

 **Free: No, I meant- forget it. Never mind. Feel free to review and like the chapter, folks & I'll see you next chapter.**

 **Leo: Don't you mean 'we'?**

 **Free:...Whatever.**

* * *

 _ **Original Cards**_

* * *

Ancient Sealing Magic

Trap/Normal  
Activate when your opponent fusion or synchro summons a monster. Negate the summon and banish the summon material.

Blitz Gundam

Water  
3  
ATK/DEF: 700/1400  
[ _Machine/Effect_ ] While this card is on the field: your opponent can only target this monster during their battle phase.

Dark History

Trap/Normal  
This card can only be activated during End Phase. Special summon from the graveyard all Gundam monsters destroyed this turn.

Strike Gundam: Launcher Striker

Fire  
6  
ATK/DEF: 2000/1000  
[ _Machine/Fusion/Effect_ ] ( _Strike Gundam & Buster Gundam_) This card can only be special summoned using Polymerization & the fusion materials mentioned above. When this card is special summoned: place 3 counters on it. Once per turn: remove 1 counter from this card to destroy 1 face up card your opponent controls. If you end your turn without activating this effect: remove 1 counter. When this card has no counters on it: destroy this card.


	15. Unlucky fortune and The Gorgon!

**Grey: Welp...this is my life now...**

 **Luna: I eh...don't see anything...(Looking over some pictures of Grey's new home.)**

 **Grey: Exactly. Living in the middle of buttfuck nowhere surrounded by cows and a fricking blizzard! I'm a _texan_! I don't do cold!**

 **Luna: Um-**

 **Grey: No internet! My room is the size of a closet! Not to mention my laptop died-**

 **Luna: Seeing as how she's in the middle of ranting, Greywing44 and Forever Free Evergreen don't own Yugioh or anything related to it. Just the words below.**

* * *

 _ **Earlier that day…**_

* * *

"Seria!" Sayer barked as he stepped into the lab where his underling was watching over the health of an unconscious Will. "What's the status of my diamond?"

Having worked under the man for several years now, Seria was used to Sayer appearing out of nowhere and demanding updates on current matters of hand: this time it was about the unconscious girl they had been keeping sedated for the last twenty-one months while the still experimental brainwashing system had been implemented on her. _Still_ being the key word as it took running into a familiar face to more or less remove the brainwashing and nearly leaving the girl a vegetable.

As if expecting Sayer to suddenly ask that, the panel Seria was manning suddenly lit up showing more active lifesigns from the comatose Will.

"The subject is waking up." She replied as she ran another diagnostics check over the girl to see just what was left of the brainwashing and if it had or would leave any permanent damage.

"Good. Once she's stable, begin the brainwashing treatment and this time double it." Sayer ordered not wanting to take anymore chances with this girl. " We're going to need a stronger output to make sure my diamond in the rough stays under my control whenever she runs into old acquaintances."

Seria could not help but tear eye eyes away from her console to stare at Sayer in disbelief.

"Are you sure that is wise, Sayer?" She could not help but ask memories of another child flashing before her eyes as if she was having deja vu.

"Just by coming into contact with that Satellite Signer, the brainwashing started to wear off. In order to prevent any repeat performances down the road, we need to push things passed the limitations we put up." Sayer pressed. He needed this girl under his thumb as she seemed to be able to calm down his wild rose making her vital if he was to take down that Satellite the next time he showed his face.

"But...the last time we tried going beyond the safety measures with the brainwashing…"

"You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, Seria." Sayer cut over knowing just where this was going. "Besides, that boy was _weak_ and barely had any psychic powers compared to Akiza. Whereas my diamond here is from Satellite and made of tougher stuff."

"That does not mean we should ignore the safety parameters!" Seria protested abandoning her post to stand against Sayer's reasoning.

Sayer had no time for this. For some reason, Goodwin was trying to gather a group of people called the Signers of the Crimson Dragon, the great serpent like monster that had appeared during Yusei Fudo and Jack Atlas' duel. Goodwin already had Atlas under his control and was trying to rope in Yusei, whereas he had Akiza on a short leash and was awaiting on that sleeping beauty he had kidnapped to finally wake up so he could…'study' her gift- a gift his diamond seemed to share judging by recent events.

All he needed now was the location of the fifth and final Signer. If he could get that person under his control before Goodwin could get his claws in, he would have three of them then could try to take away the ones Goodwin had. And seeing as he had the man's deepest and darkest of secrets up his sleeve, he knew he was going to be the victor when the dust finally settled.

"To a certain extent, I'm not worried about the dangers involved in this. However, if the brainwashing wears off on my diamond...Let's just say she'll be like my rose when she loses it only _without_ the unstable psychic power storm." Sayer told the woman as his diamond had come from Satellite after all and that was no paradise on earth no matter how you sugar coated it.

"I'm afraid it's already happened. Her mind is now her own again." Seria explained showing Sayer the current statistics of Will's mental health.

"What!?" Sayer exclaimed in surprise coming up to her station and glaring at the screen. His diamond had been stewing in that brainwashing regime for the better part of two years, it should not be crumbling away like a flakey pastry. "Begin brainwashing immediately! Speed up the process!"

He could not have things collapsing at this crucial moment. If his diamond broke free, who knows what hell she would raise. Hopefully, by increasing the output, he could keep her under long enough to figure out how to keep the brainwashing in place permanently.

"It's too dangerous! Her life-signs are too weak right now!" Seria argued knowing that to even attempt to brainwash right now Will would likely have her taking a never ending slumber.

No longer caring about her job or welfare, Seria slapped her hand over the emergency shutdown button terminating the procedure _and_ no doubt saving Will's life.

As much as Sayer wanted to argue, even have his Thought Ruler Archfiend show her the door for insubordination, he decided to let it slide as it looked like his diamond would not be getting up any time soon. Perhaps he should use this time to properly test a more thorough application of brainwashing with some other guinea pigs.

"Fine! Place her in a cell and monitor her health. The moment she's stable enough, we're putting her back under." Sayer ordered the woman. "In the meantime, have someone fetch her roommates, we'll use them to perfect the procedure."

As Seria made to comply a call from the reception desk on the ground floor came though claiming there were a couple of disgruntled members of the public starting up a fight inside their front door. While Seria was slightly surprised, Sayer was actually smirking as if he had just been handed an early birthday present.

"Tell them to detain the two and throw them into some disused room away from the others. Once we've perfected the procedure, we'll use them as test subjects." Sayer told Seria as he left to check up on his wild rose.

* * *

An hour later, after checking up on Akiza along with a few other 'special' guests residing in his building, Sayer strode towards his office with a hidden urgence after a psychic alarm went off inside his head telling him someone had gotten into his office- or rather the hidden chamber connected to his office where all the dark secrets he had accumulated from important figures over the years and was now poking around like a curious mouse. Soon to be a dead mouse once he got his fangs into the intruder.

Stepping into his office, Sayer was just in time to see a bespectacled young woman amidst a pile of books. Books containing information privy to him and him alone.

"Well, well. A little mouse." He spoke up causing the woman back up in fright when she realised she was not alone. "You should be more careful. You shouldn't go scampering where there could be traps."

Watching as she backed away from him, Sayer tried to peg who the girl worked did not look like she worked for Goodwin and the shocked look on her face told him she was probably a reporter or something flying solo not that it mattered to him. Now that the mouse had found the cheese, he was going to have to remove her from the kitchen and the world before she could blab to whoever she was working for. That did not mean he could not have a _little_ fun in the process and he did have a little steam from today's lack of progress to get rid of.

"In the interest of good sport, allow me to give you a fair chance." He elaborated picking up a spare duel disk lying at the base of one of the statues adorning his office and throwing it to her. "I'm willing to throw you a slim hope."

"With a duel?" The woman asked in disbelief as she caught the device.

"You can try to run or you can duel me." Sayer told her readying his own disk. "So? Will you give up on your slight hope?"

Like a cornered mouse baring it's fangs as it faced death, the woman quickly put on the duel disk and inserted her deck into it.

"I accept your challenge!" She declared boldly.

"You should have tried to run!" Sayer told her as that would be more _entertaining_ for him at least.

" _Duel_!"

 _ **Sayer:4000  
Bespectacled woman:4000**_

"The first turn is mine!" Sayer proclaimed as he drew a card. "I summon Telekinetic Shocker!"

Telekinetic Shocker **: (4 ATK/DEF: 1700/700)**

"By going first, I can't attack during the opening turn." Sayer explained as his monster, a psychic in a black and red suit, appeared before him. "It looks like you're up, little mouse. This is probably your only turn so make it count." 'Try to amuse me in the time you have left.'

The woman glared at him behind her swirling spectacles before drawing her sixth card. There was no doubt in Sayer's mind she was wondering about all those rumors about his kind inflicting actual damage. Well, she would soon be finding out- too bad she would not be able to report about it though.

"My turn! I summon Fortune Fairy Sui!" She called out summoning a chibi-fairy all in blue, from dress and staff to hair and eyes.

Fortune Fairy Swee : **(4 ATK/DEF:0/0)**

"And then, I play Unacceptable Results spell card! If I have a Fortune Fairy on the field when I play this card, I can summon another Fortune Fairy to the field!" She explained as Sui reached into the blue framed card that had materialised onto the field and pulled out another chibi-fairy, this time all in orange. "Appear: Fortune Fairy Chi!"

Fortune Fairy Chee: **(6 ATK/DEF:0/0)**

"Next, I activate another magic card, Luck Loan, allowing me to summon a Fortune Fairy from my hand whose level's lower than that of my Faires on the field!" She continued summoning an all green chibi-fairy to her field. "Appear: Fortune Fairy Hu!"

Fortune Fairy Hu **: (3 ATK/DEF:0/0)**

Sayer had no idea whether to laugh in amusement of sigh in disappointment as the rat summon zero attack monster after zero attack monster- and in attack mode too! It was as if she was begging for a sound defeat.

"And now, I play the continuous spell card: Miracle Stone! This card increases the attack power of all Fortune Fairies on the field by a thousand points for each Fairy!" She explained playing the spell card summoning a shining obsidian stone to the field while the three chibi-fairies suddenly grew to gargantuan size.

Fortune Fairy Sui: **(ATK:0 - ATK:3000)**  
Fortune Fairy Chi: **(ATK:0 - ATK:3000)**  
Fortune Fairy Hu: ( **ATK:0 - ATK:3000)**

"They can't attack the turn they're summoned so I'll end my turn there." The woman finally finished.

"The little mouse has some surprises..." Sayer conceded but still unconcerned about being outnumbered and overpowered by cartoon knockoffs. "My turn! And I'll begin by summoning Psychic Snail in attack mode!"

Psychic Snail: **(4 ATK/DEF:1900/1200)**

"Next, I'll play Emergency Teleport! This lets me summon a level three or lower psychic from my deck or hand! I summon Psychic Commander!" Sayer declared summoning the military looking psychic in his futuristic tank to stand beside mutant snail and power suit clad soldier.

Psychic Commander: **(4 ATK/DEF:1400/800)**

"You may believe you made an impregnable defense, but that's naive to think!" Sayer smirked knowing that the woman was thinking his monsters were no match for her fairy types as he played another spell card. "I play Psychokinesis! By paying one thousand life points, this card can destroy one card on the field."

 _ **Sayer:3000**_

"And the card I'll destroy will, naturally, be that Miracle stone of yours!" Sayer declared pointing at the huge stone which shattered into pixels causing the Fortune Fairies to revert back to their original size of thirty centimeters. "Now your monster's attack powers are all back to zero."

Fortune Fairy Sui: **(ATK:3000 - ATK:0)**  
Fortune Fairy Chi: **(ATK:3000 - ATK:0)**  
Fortune Fairy Hu: **(ATK:3000 - ATK:0)**

"No way!" The woman gasped as she realized what was about to happen next.

"Go, Telekinetic Shocker!" Sayer ordered.

Charging itself up, the suited psychic charged through the green fairy and struck the woman sending her straight into the window of Sayer's office.

 ** _Bespectacled_** _ **Woman: 2300**_

"W-What just happened?!" She gasped winded from the blow that should not have hurt in the first place.

"This is the force of Psychic Dueling. Get a _good_ taste of it." 'For it will be your last!' Sayer thought before ordering Psychic Snail to attack.

Fortunately for Sayer, his office was sound proofed for just in case in these sort of scenarios, as the screams she let out as she was electrocuted were _sure_ to have brought someone running whether out of curiosity or urgency.

 ** _Bespectacled_** _ **Woman: 400**_

"You won't get away with this! Sector Security will come looking for Carly Carmine!" She cried weakly.

"Rest assured. You'll be treated as a mere ' _accidental_ death'. Sector Security can't touch us." Sayer assured her. "Not as long as I know the truth about Goodwin!"

"The Director...?" The woman asked before being shot clean through the window by Psychic Commander to plummet thirty stories to the ground below…

* * *

 _ **Present**_

* * *

For a brief moment, Sayer thought he was seeing things. There was no way that that reporter he had literally thrown out his office window, one Carly Carmine if he recalled her name correctly, could be standing before him now not even an hour after committing the crime. Even if her features and attire showed all the damaged one gained from a thirty story fall, the bones in the girl's body should be broken so badly they were calcium powder.

And yet...there she was staring at him with glazed over eyes. Perhaps the stress of his job, and recent events, was finally getting to him...he hoped.

"This can't be... _How_ did you survive?!" Sayer demanded.

"Divine...I have been reborn in order to seal your _doom_." Carly replied her voice cold and hard despite looking like the living dead.

As Sayer stared at the formerly bespectacled girl while trying to come to terms with who or what he was witnessing, a glowing purple mark materialized on Carly's right forearm.

"This birthmark is throbbing…" Carly muttered staring at the mark of the hummingbird now adorning her arm. "It's telling me to offer your mangy soul as sacrifice in a Shadow Duel."

 _'_ _A Shadow Duel?!'_ Sayer thought recalling the term given to duels similar to a duels with a powerful psychic duelist generations ago when Duel Monsters first published. It was not as old as this tale of the Crimson Dragon and its Signers but, it was rumored that those who could initiate a Shadow duel were the forefathers of psychic duelists like himself.

Before he could reply, Carly was suddenly engulfed in a pillar of the same purple flame that not long ago had carved out a geoglyph exactly like the one she now sported on her arm. As the flames receded, Sayer was shocked to see Carly now dressed in black robes with orange trim and wielding an entirely different duel disk that fitted her new attire. Even her injuries were gone leaving her alabaster skin free of any markings.

Despite the light show and return of the dead, Sayer was not going to back down from her challenge. Whether this was the same girl or not, clearly her second chance at life did not bestow upon her better smarts if she had returned just to face him again despite knowing her limitations in comparison to himself.

"To come back to face me again, you really don't know how weak you are." Sayer smirked as he readied his duel disk. "You've got yourself a duel!"

"This won't be the same as before, Sayer!" Carly promised him with a malicious grin. "I'll consign you and the ambitions seething deep in your bowels to a _world_ of darkness!"

"Say what you wish. You're about to get another taste of the ultimate power in dueling!" Sayer retorted as he watched Carly's new duel disk unfold and activate.

" _Let's duel!_ "

 _ **Sayer:4000  
Carly:4000**_

"I'll go first!" Sayer proclaimed taking the first draw. "I'll summon Krebons in attack mode then use Emergency Teleport to special summon Mind Protector in defense mode!"

Krebons: **(2 ATK/DEF:1200/700)**  
Mind Protector: **(3 ATK/DEF:0/2200)**

"I now tune level two Krebons with level three Mind Protector to Synchro Summon Magical Android!" Sayer said as the psychic jester and psychic robot disappeared to be replaced by a human-like android in a futuristic robe. "By going first, I can't attack on the opening turn! But, during my end phase, Magical Android's effect activates granting me six hundred life points for every psychic type I control!"

Magical Android: **(5 ATK/DEF:2400/1700)**

 _ **Sayer:4600**_

"I end my turn. Let's see these dark powers you've been given!"

"Be careful what you ask for! My turn!" Carly began adding her card draw to her hand and playing a spell card placing it in the disk's field spell zone. "I activate the field spell, Future Vision from my hand!"

"Future Vision?" Sayer echoed as the corridor they were in was transformed into a three dimensional galaxy decour.

"Yes, my dueling will read your future clear as night." Carly replied ominously to which Sayer just sneered calling her bluff on her superstitious nonsense.

At first, he had been expecting her to break out some new tactic to use against him. Instead, it was merely the same old Fortune Fairy ploy as before and that had went so well for her the last time around.

"Hate to disappoint you but my future will not be controlled by anyone! Be it you or Fate!" He told her ' _foreseeing_ ' how this battle would go on his next turn.

"Then just try to escape the fate I will foretell!" Carly challenged as she summoned a monster to her side of the field, a yellow, grown up version of the Fortune Fairies she used in their last duel. "I summon Fortune Lady Light! My Fortune Ladies' level will level up by one each standby phase. And each level gives her two hundred attack points, two hundred defense points and two hundred _more_ ways to beat you each turn!"

Fortune Lady Light: **(1 ATK/DEF:200/200)**

"But why stop there when I can activate my field spell, Field Vision?! It sends a summoned monster into the future, to my next turn." Carly continued as the yellow Fairy waved goodbye before disappearing from the field. "Now, it's time for the _real_ fun to begin."

Sayer was still unimpressed. She had basically summoned a monster only to have her field spell backfire and leave her wide open to his next attack- and there would be no returning this time around, he would make sure of that.

"At this time, Fortune Lady Light's ability activates! When a Fortune Lady is removed from the field, I can special summon another Fortune Lady from my deck! Appear now, Fortune Lady Fire" Carly called out summoning another grown up Fairy, this time in red. "Her level is set at two so her attack _and_ defense power this turn is four hundred."

Fortune Lady Fire: ( **2 ATK/DEF:400/400)**

"And how do you expect to defeat my Android with such weak monster?" Sayer asked.

"For someone who likes to flaunt their strength around like you, this will do _nicely._ " Carly replied darkly. "When Fortune Lady Fire is special summoned in attack mode, she can destroy one monster you control and inflict damage equal to the destroyed monster's attack power!"

Having not expected such a weak monster to have such a powerful ability, Sayer could only watch as Magical Android was engulfed in flame. He was further shocked when the flames then connected with him sending him flying down the corridor to connect painfully with the wall at the near end.

 **Sayer:2200**

' _Wh-what just happened?!_ ' Sayer thought as his flesh burned painfully. As loathe as he was to admit it, this power she now had surpassed even his psychic powers.

"What's wrong? You look pale." Carly taunted.

"That was nothing! I'm not done yet!" Sayer brushed off as he got back to his feet.

"And I haven't even attacked yet. Fortune Lady Fire! Direct attack!" Carly ordered her monster once more introducing Sayer to the wall.

 _ **Sayer:1800**_

"Now that you've had a taste of my power, I'll play one card face down to end my turn." Carly finished inserting the card into her disk as she walked over to Sayer's sprawled form. "Your fate foretold to you, Sayer...is ' _death_ '!"

* * *

"Why do all these halls look the frigging same!?" Will cursed as she rounded the corner to find another identical corridor leading to the atrium. If this kept up, she would be the one needing rescuing not the other way around.

Exhaling in frustration, Will persevered and was about to continue on in her search for her elusive friend and Akiza when the door beside her opened. Reacting on instinct, Will dove at the open door knocking the person just coming out back inside before the door closed.

"Wait, stop!" The person she had just tackled spoke out as Will raised her fist in preparation for knocking her out.

Pausing, if just because the person's voice sounded familiar to her, Will took a closer look at the woman she was straddling who was looking back in fear of what Will was about to do to her. Now fully looking at the person and not just acting on Satellite honed instincts, Will was sure she had seen this woman before numerous times.

"You're that woman..." Will began not quite able to recall the woman's name although that still did not explain as to why she should not knock her lights out.

"You have five _seconds_ to say why I shouldn't return what you've been doing to me for the last couple years!" Will warned Seria.

"I want to help you." Seria explained quickly. "I've had enough of what Sayer is trying to do these days in comparison to when he first founded Arcadia Movement. At first, it was merely to research the extent of a psychic duelist's power but now-"

Seria flinched when Will's fist struck the floor near her head.

"You're over five seconds." Will told Seria. "I suppose he's gone worse than brainwashing people against their will?"

"He used the brainwashing on your roommates and set them against the girl and your new friend." Seria replied elaborating when she noticed Will's skeptic look. "The procedure's advanced to allow better control and psychic power output making them almost on par with Miss Akiza."

Now that got Will's attention. No longer caring about Seria, Will got up and was about to retrace her steps in order to find and Save Luna before Seria grabbed her and pulled her back into the room.

"They're fine. The girl sustained a bruised shoulder at worse but aside that, they defeated Liquid and Okita." Seria assured her. "After seeing them find the girl's brother, I notified Sayer that they had been captured but that will only buy us much time at best before he notices their missing."

Sighing in relief, Will calmed down slightly but still did not let Seria off the hook. Sure, Sayer had been given some false information, but that meant he had regained consciousness and would soon be on their tail again and would no doubt be out for blood this time.

"Where is he now?" Will demanded.

"I don't know. I only managed to find Miss Akiza's location before another earthquake struck and took out the surveillance system." Seria replied sadly. "She's ten floors below on the residential floors, she should still be there if you're quick enough."

' _Ten floors?! Mido said she would be- ugh! Less thinking more **doing,** Will!_ ' Will thought to herself forcing herself back on track. She needed to find Akiza quickly before Sayer found them and her mentally arguing about what Mido had told her was not going to make finding her new friend any quicker. She only hoped she could find Yusei on her way as there was no time to find him first.

"Let's go!" Will said grabbing Seria's arm and dragging her in the direction of the nearest lift. She was not going to use her as a hostage, but if Luna was indeed injured, then it would be better she got properly treated the moment they were all out of the woods.

* * *

Finally finished with her rounds, Akiza wanted nothing more than to turn in for the night hoping that there would be no more tremors happening anytime soon so that she could try and comprehend these...emotions conflicting within her. She knew Sayer had told her to leave the thinking to him but, after her duels with Yusei and Will, she could do nothing but think about things and, surprising herself, she did not wish to tell Sayer about this.

Perhaps tomorrow, she could duel Will again and see how she felt afterwards come win or lose. Maybe then she could properly understand a few things.

"I was hoping I would find you all alone."

Stopping in her tracks, Akiza turned round to see a woman in a pale green dress walk towards her.

"You're that model...Misty Tredwell…" Akiza said slowly confused as to why a famous model would be paying them a visit so late in the day.

"I'm honored you know who I am. Well, I also know a lot about you, Akiza Izinski- or would you prefer Black Rose?" Misty said coldly. "I will have my revenge now. You can not escape."

"What do you mean, revenge? What are you talking about?" Akiza asked having no clue what was happening here.

"Don't worry about it. I don't expect you to comprehend." Misty told her fully expecting the witch to deny the truth. "Regardless, nothing will bring him back to me. The least you can do is apologize to him- and I shall send you to him so you can do just that."

"Who are you? What are you talking about?" Akiza demanded becoming defensive.

"No need to worry. In making amends, you will perish." Misty promised raising her right arm allowing the hidden mark of the lizard to appear. "This is our fate as Signer and Dark Signer."

"Signer? Dark Signer?" Akiza muttered as she watched Misty's attire transform into a black robe with green trim.

She had heard Yusei mention something about her being a Signer. And now Misty was apparently a ' _Dark_ ' Signer with a cursed branding similar to hers only purple and of an actual animal not part of a single creature.

"We are all destined to fight. By accepting that destiny, I gained the power of vengeance." Misty continued as she now stood across from Akiza. "The five thousand year seal has been unraveled. All that is left is to fight until either your group or mine is eliminated!"

As she spoke, neither appeared to notice the return of the tremors while outside, another geoglyph was burned into the streets of New Domino shaped just like the Mark Misty had.

"What are you saying?!" Akiza demanded before gasping as she felt the Mark on her arm flare to life as if resonating in response to Misty's own Mark activating.

"I came here to _crush_ the Arcadia Movement. You have no choice but to duel me." Misty warned Akiza suggesting that should she turn down her challenge, she would go on to destroy the one place the Black Rose could call home.

As if a switch had been flipped, Akiza's Black Rose persona awoke. She could care little about what someone said to her but, to claim they would go on to kill Sayer and destroy her home, she would not stand idly by and let them do as they please celebrity status or _not_.

"Fine. I don't know what it is you have against me, but I'll duel you, regardless." Akiza accepted readying her duel disk. "This is my home! If you say you're going to get rid of it, then there's no way I can let you go about as you please!"

' _That's exactly what I hoped you would say_.' Misty thought as her own duel disk activated. ' _But it won't stop us from destroying you and Arcadia Movement._ '

 _"_ _Duel!_ "

 _ **Akiza:4000  
Misty:4000**_

"I'll begin! I summon Twilight Rose Knight and when my Knight is summoned, I get to summon a level four or lower plant type from my hand. And I pick Lord Poison!" Akiza began summoning the little warrior clad in dark purple armor with red trim followed by a strange plant like creature.

Twilight Rose Knight: **(3 ATK/DEF:1000/1000)**  
Lord Poison: **(4 ATK/DEF:1500/1000)**

"Now I'll tune my level three Knight to my level four Lord Poison to Synchro Summon my Black Rose Dragon! Bloom into existence!" Akiza called out as her monsters disappeared in a flash of light to make way for her signature monster.

Black Rose Dragon: **(7 ATK/DEF:2400/1800)**

"Black Rose Dragon…This is proof that you are _indeed_ a Signer." Misty muttered staring at the large plant like dragon completely unafraid of its size and its mistresses psychic power the mere sight of it causing her dark mark to pulse in hatred for it.

She could still remember that day, as the rescue crew rushed her to the hospital after her fatal accident, when she saw that strange lizard like creature enter her body. It had saved her life, that she could not deny, and in return, asked only that she kill the servant of the Crimson Dragon: wielder of the Black Rose Dragon. Misty accepted the terms almost too eagerly. The one she cherished had been taken by the Black Rose, and if this creature's goal was similar to her own, then who was she to decline the power to claim the vengeance she desired?

"I'll place three cards face down and end my turn!" Akiza finished awaiting to see if this Dark Signer could pick up the gauntlet after being shown what she was up against.

"My turn." Misty began coolly drawing a card. "I activate the field spell, Savage Colosseum. As long as this is in play, every monster in attack mode has to attack and the player regains three hundred life points for each monster that battles."

As she explained the effect of her field spell card, the atrium hallway they were in, along with the halls above and below, took on the form of an ancient Colosseum with the levels above looking like that of the empty stands while the lower levels took on the appearance of the Colosseum basement.

"To keep things safe, I activate another sell card, Field Barrier. With this in play, Savage Colosseum cannot be destroyed by effects or activating another field spell." Misty continued.

' _A card that protects field spells?_ ' Akiza thought to herself. While she knew that this meant that Misty's plan required Savage Colosseum to remain in play, there was no way it could help her until she somehow got rid of her Black Rose Dragon.

"Now, I summon out my Reptilianne Gorgon in attack mode." Misty continued summoning a blue scaled lamia with a Medusa hairstyle.

Reptilianne Gorgon: **(3 ATK/DEF:1400/1400)**

"Next, I'll equip her with Attack Pheromones. With this equipped, any defense monsters will be changed to attack mode after battling my monster. I'll also equip her with Molting Escape preventing my Gorgon from being destroyed once per turn." Misty continued equipping the two spell cards to her monster. "Now, Reptilianne Gorgon! Attack her Black Rose Dragon!"

For a second, Akiza had thought Misty had lost it, attacking her Dragon's twenty four hundred attack points with a mere fourteen hundred. Then she remembered the effects of the field spell in play, she had to attack because her Gorgon was in attack position. It still meant that attacking was suicidal.

As expected, Reptilianne Gorgon's Poison Glance attack merely glanced off Black Rose Dragon's petals whereas her dragon's retaliation strike wiped out the serpent assailant yet, as the attack washed over her monster, Misty seemed to be unperturbed.

 _ **Misty:3000**_

"Thanks to Molten Escape, Reptilianne Gorgon lives and is three hundred points stronger." Misty explained as the dust cleared to reveal her monster unscathed from the battle. "Your monster however, is another story."

Confused, Akiza glanced at her dragon to gasp as she watched it turn to stone before her very eyes. At least it now explained the full extent of Misty's plan it seemed.

Reptilianne Gorgon: **(ATK:1700)**  
Black Rose Dragon: **(** **ATK:0)**

"What have you done to my dragon!" Akiza demanded.

"Due to Reptilianne Gorgon's effect, any monster that battles her is petrified and has their attack points reduced to zero and cannot change their now, Savage Colosseum's effect activates granting three hundred life points for every monster battled." Misty explained for Akiza.

 _ **Misty:3300**_

"Those who battle the Gorgon turn to stone and rot away. Will you yourself be able to survive? Black Rose?" Misty inquired ominously to the one who murdered her brother. "After all, even the man you idolize, is about to perish even as we speak!"

Those words alone _petrified_ Akiza better than Reptilianne Gorgon's effect over her Black Rose Dragon.

* * *

 **Grey: And not to mention-...Where'd she go?**

 **Akiza: She left.**

 **Grey: Ah...When'd you get here?**

 **Akiza: I got here somewhere between, I hate this blizzard, and I miss my car...**

 **Grey: Ah...So why're you here?**

 **Akiza: I was asked by Free to...make sure you don't break, burn, or otherwise cause bodily harm to any person or thing in your rabid frustration.**

 **Grey:...Alright that's fair. Read and review guys, it'll be a welcome sight in this farm wasteland...**


	16. The Foundation crumbles!

**Free: Thanks for watching over Grey for me, Akiza.**

 **Akiza: It's nothing. Although, I do wonder why this fic is in her name while you seem to be doing most the work.**

 **Free: Well, you heard her yourself: new house, no internet- plus, it helps motivate me to update or write my own fics.**

 **Akiza: I...see. Anyways, remember our agreement.**

 **Free: I know, I know. Care to do the disclaimer before you leave?**

 **Akiza: If I must. Evergreen and Greywing don't own 5D's and anything else related to YuGiOh! or not.**

* * *

"If you wish to save the one you revere, then you will have to defeat me first. That's depending on if you can defeat me, of course." Misty continued causing Akiza to grit her teeth in anger. "Now, Black Rose, it is your turn."

 _ **Misty:3300**_

Reptilianne Gorgon: **(3 ATK:1700)**

Knowing she was right, Akiza drew a card only to be interrupted by Misty.

 _ **Akiza:4000**_

Black Rose Dragon: **(7 ATK:0)**

"Because of Reptilianne Gorgon's effect, your dragon is now nothing more that a stone husk with an attack power of zero. Unfortunately for it, Savage Colosseum's effect forces all monsters in attack mode to fight." Misty explained earning a piercing glare from Akiza as she realised what that meant, not that she cared. "Since your dragon cannot attack- Reptilianne Gorgon, send Black Rose Dragon to its demise."

Akiza could only watch as the lamia Medusa glared at her dragon shattering it into thousands pieces. Angry as she was, the stinging pain brought by several of those shards slicing through her skin could not be ignored. Staring at the back of her hand, watching as the blood began to well up and seep into the fabric of her glove, the Black Rose realised that Misty had somehow gained a power similar to a psychic duelist on par with herself and even Sayer possibly.

 _ **Akiza:2300**_

"That was just a taste of real power- the power of a Dark Signer. Your psychic dueling powers can not even come close to this." Misty told her with a slight chuckle enjoying herself. "What's wrong? You seemed shocked. Does it surprise you to know there is duelling more terrifying than that of your psychic duelling?"

"Due to Savage Colosseum's effect, regain three hundred life points for every monster that attacked." Akiza remarked ignoring Misty's taunts at her powers. She would see soon enough why people _feared_ her.

 ** _Akiza:2600_**

"Now my attack starts here! I activate my facedown, Synchro Spirits! By banishing a Synchro monster from the graveyard, I can special summon the synchro material used to summon it." Akiza began taking her signature dragon out of the graveyard along with the two monster cards she had used to summon it placing them on seperate monster zones on her duel disk while putting her dragon in her deck pouch on her belt. "So, by removing Black Rose Dragon from play, I get to special summon Twilight Rose Knight and Lord Poison back to the field in attack mode."

From the face up trap card on Akiza's side of the field the two monsters she had used to synchro summon Black Rose Dragon during her last turn emerged in attack mode although even Lord Poison's attack power paled in comparison to Misty's Reptilianne Gorgon. But Akiza was not done just yet.

Twilight Rose Knight: **(3 ATK/DEF:1000/1000)**

Lord Poison **:(4 ATK/DEF:1500/1000)**

"Next, I activate another facedown, Dimensional Return. This allows me to return all banished monsters to their respective decks. This means that my Black Rose Dragon is back, ready and waiting." Akiza continued putting her dragon back into her extra deck.

"I have no qualms. No matter how many times you summon it, I _will_ destroy it." Misty replied unfazed that the Signer found a way to bring back her Signer Dragon.

"It has a name. And I'll _gladly_ reintroduce you." Akiza growled activating her final facedown card. "I activate Emergency Tuning! This allows me to perform a synchro summoning during my battle phase. So, once again, my Twilight Rose Knight will give my Lord Poison a little tune up. Returning in full bloom, I synchro summon Black Rose Dragon!"

Answering the call of its mistress, the petal scaled dragon emerged once more from the pillar of light formed from the tuning of Akiza's two monsters at full strength and fully ticked off no doubt over what been done to it this turn and last.

Black Rose Dragon **:(7 ATK/DEF:2400/1800)**

"But we're not through yet. When Black Rose Dragon is successfully summoned, it will destroy all cards on the field." Akiza told Misty watching a hidden glee as her dragon's Black Rose Gale destroyed the Dark Signer's monster and numerous spell cards before dispersing into petals itself leaving the field a blank slate for the two duelists.

"You're willing enough to destroy your dragon just to clear my field?" Misty asked in slight disbelief before smiling as if pleased by something. "It feels so refreshing for you, the one they refer to as the ' _Black Rose_ ', to struggle so hard to keep alive."

Akiza growled and was about to retort when she finally noticed that the scenery was still that of a Colosseum and not the familiar hallways of her home.

"As you can see, even though your Black Rose Dragon's effect destroyed all cards on the field, Field Barrier's effect prevented Savage Colosseum from going anywhere." Misty explained still smiling. "You threw away your dragon in vain, Black Rose."

Akiza was getting tired of Misty's words. She did not know what it was the woman had against her, but one thing was for sure. Misty was making a serious attempt at taking her life. Which meant she had to put up a serious fight as well if she wanted to survive this duel and rescue Sayer!

"Say what you will. You will soon see how foolish you were to attack me in my own home!" Akiza declared.

"Just like all those others you terrorized? All you've ever done is repeatedly destroy other peoples lives under the pretext that you're ' _saving yourself_ ' caring not to how many others are sacrificed in the process. Misty threw out catching Akiza off-guard. "So, this time, it's your turn to experience the same fear you've instilled in others."

"The same...despair?" Akiza muttered noticing the beginning of a cold chill creep up her back she had not felt since before Sayer took her under his wing.

"Yes. The same despair you allotted to my brother and me." Misty replied coldly the face of her dear brother still fresh in her mind before he left her.

"I don't know who your brother is!" Akiza protested vehemently. Even if it were a passing glance, surely she would have recognised the sibling of a famous model.

"Yes, why should you? My brother's existence to you is a mere drop in the bucket." Misty remarked before knocking in the final nail in the Black Rose's coffin. "My brother was killed by _you_!"

Those words cut through Akiza sharper than any attack, psychic or shadow. She had been called many things and while they may have stung in varying degree, they were akin to flickering candles compared to the flame of being called a murderer.

"My brother died when he went to see one of your duels in the Daimon Area." Misty explained pointing an accusing finger at Akiza.

"You...You're wrong...I...I don't know…" Akiza tried to reply but it was no good. The shock of learning she had killed someone completely threw her off her game.

"He admired you. He was still a child." Misty pressed not letting up the mental pressure and trauma she could see building up on the Black Rose's shoulders. "You have a power that excels others, that _rules_ others. It could have been used to _save_ others as well!"

"But I don't have the power to save others!" Akiza protested clenching her fists as her lifelong inner turmoil came to the forefront once again. All she had was a _curse_ that would forever haunt her and bring nothing but trouble and strife until her dying day.

"Then you are a fool. A foolish girl who only uses her power she's been bestowed for her own needs." Misty admonished the girl. "If only you did not exist, then he would- I'll make you _pay_! I was revived to seek my revenge against you! Now finish your turn so that I can finally have my revenge!"

Had she not been so shaken by Misty's words, Akiza would have surely noticed the slight change in personality the Dark Signer had suddenly undertook mid-speech going from upset at Akiza to wanting her dead at her feet.

"I...play one card face down and end my turn." Akiza said in reply to Misty's claim of vengeance.

"My turn. And to begin, I'll play Reptilianne Spawn." Misty began playing the spell card from her hand. "This allows me to special summon two Reptilianne Tokens on my side of the field by removing Reptilianne Gorgon from my graveyard."

Reptilianne Token **(x2):(1 ATK/DEF:0/0)**

"Now, I'll tribute my two tokens to summon the Envoy of the Netherworld! Break free from the spell held over you for so long!" Misty called out holding up a level ten monster card depicting what looked like a black lizard with neon green lines going down it's body. "Earthbound Immortal, Ccarayhua!"

As Misty placed the monster card into a monster zone on her disk, the two Reptilianne tokens on her field transformed into globes of multicolored light and shot off away from the duel and out the nearest window as a single orb. Forcefully exiting the Arcadia Movement building and rising high into the air above New Domino the orb morphed into a dormant stone heart.

Far down below, on the streets of the city, people were noticing and pointing up at the strange object wondering what it was completely unaware of the fate that was about to become of them.

Like the actual organ it represented, the stone heart started to move, expanding and constricting while letting out an ominous thumping sound like an actual heartbeat. On the ground, screams soon filled the air as people began disappearing one after the other as they transformed into purple ethereal matter and absorbed by the heart.

Even inside the Arcadia Movement building, the same thing was happening all around Akiza and Misty causing puzzlement and concern for the former as she watched the many streams of purple light flit by.

"What...is this?" Akiza asked slowly trying to wrap her mind around what was happening while trying to ignore the searing pain shooting through her right arm as her Signer mark flared brighter than ever before making what had happened when first encountering Yusei seem small in comparison.

"Do not fret. A Signer's soul will not be taken by the arrival of an Earthbound Immortal. Not until the outcome of the Shadow Duel has been made, at least." Misty added darkly.

For a moment, Akiza did not really understand what Misty was talking about. At the same time the penny dropped for her, the beating heart outside had finally accumulated all the souls it needed and plummeted to the now barren ground far below kicking up a large cloud of dust.

"What was that!? What just happened, Misty!?" Akiza demanded completely unaware of what her back was facing.

"Look behind you. It's been there a while." Misty replied cryptically.

Slowly complying, evidently not trusting the model, Akiza screamed out and backed away as she stared at the large green eyeball staring right back at her through the building window. She had no idea that, while the eye was the size of the large window, the rest of the Earthbound lizard was standing against the side of the building they were in its green lipped maw bound to send a shiver down anyone's spine at the mere sight of it.

Earthbound Immortal Ccarayhua: **(10 ATK/DEF:2800/1800** )

"It would appear...yet another duel has received its outcome." Misty remarked offhand staring not at the fear riddled Black Rose but overhead to where a fellow Dark Singer was exacting her own revenge against the man who took her life.

This caught Akiza's attention causing her to forget her own troubles as she too stared upwards praying that that scream she just heard was not from the man who took her in.

* * *

 ** _Minutes Earlier_**

* * *

"What in the world is going on here!?" Sayer demanded staying on his hands and knees until the tremors could finally subside.

 _ **Sayer:1800**_

"Nothing that you should concern yourself with. Just know that plans are getting set for your eternal plummet into darkness." Carly assured the soon to be dead man. "For now, I suggest you take your last turn."

 _ **Carly:4000**_

Fortune Lady Fire: **(2 ATK/DEF:400/400)**

"What was _that_!?" Sayer snapped glaring the dark eyed woman with discontent and rage for being more powerful than himself in terms of psychic powers.

"Our duel hasn't been settled yet. If you don't want to die, you'd best fight." Carly advised before grinning darkly. "How did you put it again?: 'This will probably be your only turn, so make it count.' was it?"

That got Sayer on his feet again clearly irked by her words, words he had used on her ironically enough. Angry as he was at her, Sayer was still sound of mind enough to realize the facts staring him square in the face. Dark Signers, while maybe not in general, clearly had powers that could exceed psychic duelists although it appeared that their powers were only active during a duel.

 _'If I can win the duel, then she'll be easy to capture_!' Sayer thought a plan coming to mind as he drew a card. He was not the leader of the Arcadia Movement for nothing, after all. ' _That Future Vision spell card is quite the tricky number. If I summon a monster normally, it'll be sent ahead a couple turns. So...that means I can't use a normal summon- but special summoning on the other hand…_ '

"I'll start things off by playing the continuous spell card, Teleport! When you have a monster on your side of the field and my field is empty, I can special summon one psychic monster from my hand by paying eight hundred life points!" Sayer began. "So, from my hand, I'll choose Storm Caller in attack mode!"

 _ **Sayer:1000**_

Storm Caller: **(6 ATK/DEF:2300/2000)**

"Next, I'll use an equip spell, Premature Burial! By paying another eight hundred life points, I can special summon one monster from my graveyard and equip it with this card! And the monster I resurrect is Magical Android!" Sayer continued calling forth the monster he had lost last turn to stand beside the blue skinned psychic equipped with weather manipulation gear.

 **Sayer:200**

Magical Android: **(5 ATK/DEF:2400/1700)**

"Oh and, since I used ' _special summons'_ Future Vision has no effect!" Sayer goaded Carly before jumping right into his battle phase. "Now go, Storm Caller! Attack her Fortune Lady!"

"I don't think so!" Carly intervened as Storm Caller launched a bolt of lightning at her Fortune Lady Fire. "I activate my trap, Slip of Fortune! This negates your monster's attack and removes my monster from play until my next standby phase!"

As she explained, both Storm Caller's attack and Fortune Lady Fire vanished from sight. On his side of the field, Sayer grimaced recalling what had happened the last time a Fortune Lady left the field via card effect. When it looked like this card did not have the same effect as the other Fortune Lady, he mentally breathed a sigh of relief before continuing on with his battle phase.

"Magical Android! Attack her life points directly!" He ordered of his remaining monster feeling slightly satisfied as he watched the fireball Magical Android launch hit Carly square in the chest.

 _ **Carly:1600**_

"Before I end my turn, I summon Psychic Commander in attack mode!" Sayer continued calling forth the military psychic in his futuristic tank.

"With his summoning, Future Vision's effect activates!" Carly interrupts as Psychic Commander suddenly disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. "Because he was normal summoned, Future Vision removes him from play until your next standby phase- assuming you even have one!"

"In that case, I'll end my turn and activate Magical Android's effect in doing so regaining six hundred life points for every psychic monster on my field." Sayer finished off knowing fully well the fate of Psychic Commander the moment he summoned him.

 _ **Sayer:1400**_

 _'All I need to do now is survive until my next turn…_ ' Sayer thought planning to synchro summon Thought Ruler Archfiend the moment Psychic Commander returned to the field and win the duel!

"It's my turn! And due to the effects of Future Vision and Slip of Fortune, my Fortune Ladies return to my field!" Carly began while Fortune Lady's Fire and Light rematerialized in front of her.

Fortune Lady Fire: **(2 ATK/DEF:400/400)**  
Fortune Lady Light: **(1 ATK/DEF:200/200)**

"But these two ladies won't be sticking around to play..." Carly began watching as her two monsters merged into a single multicolored orb and shot out the window behind Sayer.

Outside, on the opposite side of the building Ccarayhua was against, another stone heart materialized letting out a shrill cry as it began beating unlike the first heart although it still created another quake that had Sayer finding his balance once again.

"Now, transcending five thousand years time, the doors to the Netherworld will open once more. May our souls be the food for the new world!" Carly chanted, her Mark pulsing as she played a card depicting a black bird with an orange outline. "Descend forth! Earthbound Immortal, Aslla Piscu!"

A bright light emanated from Carly's duel disk at her words. Just the force of it caused Sayer to skid backwards until he felt his back hit the glass. Thankfully, the glass held although, were he to realize just what was about to happen to him, he probably would have preferred to have plummeted to his death there and then.

Earthbound Immortal, Aslla Piscu: **(10 ATK/DEF:2500/2500)**

"You idiot! Keep thinking like you know what you're doing all you want, but you're still just a third rate duelist!" Sayer snapped at Carly more angry than shocked by this latest turn of events. "The moment you tribute summoned your monster, your own field spell's effect removes it from play until your next turn!"

"The moment you ended your turn, your defeat was sealed!" Carly retorted. "When Aslla Piscu is removed from the field, it destroys all monsters you control and deals eight hundred points of damage per monster!"

"What!?" Sayer exclaimed looking all around for the monster that was to seal his fate only to see nothing other than his own monsters and none of Carly's. "Where's the monster you summoned!?"

In answer to his question, another shrill cry rang out from right behind him. Freezing up as realization hit him, Sayer slowly turned around to see the face of a large bird creature staring right at him with its beady orange eyes- if beady could ever apply to any eyeball the side of an exercise ball, that is. And considering this was the twenty eighth floor, the realization to how tall that monster was was all it took to have Sayer backing away from the window while Carly watched in cold satisfaction.

"Be gone, Sayer, into eternal darkness!" Carly remarked as she watched the fear stricken man step passed her. "Fall into the depths of the Netherworld!"

All Sayer could do was scream out in fear as the large monstrous bird reared back before spearing the building with the force of a bullet train.

* * *

Reaching the floor Seria indicated, along with the woman in tow, Will skidded to a halt as she spotted Akiza on the opposite side of the atrium facing off against an unknown duelist garbed all in black. Just the sight of the mysterious duelist told her that this was the darkness Luna had spoken off earlier on in the Spirit World meaning she needed to interrupt their duel quickly before the outcome left Akiza-

' _Stop thinking, just act, Will_!' She thought to herself releasing her grasp on Seria and ran off towards the duelists.

Halfway around the atrium's circumference, Will suddenly stopped as an explosion occurred overhead instinctively crouching down and covering her head until the scream of a familiar voice reached her ears.

"SAYER!"

Looking up, Will was just in time to see the very man Akiza just scream the name of amidst the rubble raining down from the a floor above them and continue onwards to the ground floor so many levels below. As much as she hated the man for what he had done, nobody deserved a fate such as that.

It did not mean they were out of danger yet. Noticing how the building seemed to be shaking constantly now, unlike before, whatever made that explosion up above must have damaged the building's structure. All the more reason to be disappearing rather than dueling, Will reasoned quickly running over to Akiza and the mystery woman.

"The end has come already. Much faster than I predicted." The woman commented lightly not at all fazed by the building looking to collapse around them at any moment. "It seems we have to postpone our duel until a later time, Black Rose."

Her parting words fell on deaf ears. From the moment she had seen Sayer plummet to his death in front of her, Akiza was staring blankly into the atrium void and the darkness residing at the bottom of the well oblivious to the world around her and the danger she was in.

Not even when Will finally reached her and call out to her, the traumatized teen never noticed even when Will placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Will! Akiza!" Yusei called out as he suddenly showed up looking like he had just ran a marathon while trying to reach them.

Having not been with Will when she had gotten told of Akiza's location, it had only been when his Signer Mark had flared to life telling him that Akiza was not only in danger but was facing off against a Dark Signer too spurring him to run like the wind as his Mark lead him to Akiza's location.

Despite being short of breath, Yusei quickly swept Akiza off her feet as the floor she was standing on began to crumble.

"Any ideas, Yusei?!" Will asked as the two former Enforcers flattened themselves against the wall in the hopes of avoiding getting crushed.

"Asides trying to get out alive?" Yusei threw back the look on his face telling Will he was just as unsure as herself about how they were going to get out of this one alive.

' _Well, doesn't this suck_!?' Will thought as the floor above them gave way.

* * *

 **Akiza: This chapter seemed a little...shorter than the previous ones.**

 **Grey: We're pairing you up with Yusei so don't complain.**

 **Akiza (blushing profusely): I...That is…*Cough-cough* You say ' _we_ ' as if you do any of the work but, as far as I'm aware, Evergreen does most of the work.**

 **Grey: I'm in the middle of moving house! Besides, Free needs the innovation. Besides, I _edit_.**

 **Akiza: Well, regardless of who writes this-**

 **Grey: Don't worry, Will get's paired up with someone else, you get paired up with Yusei, Jack gets...okay, unsure of that just now. Anyways, readers, review and like or I'll sick the Black Rose on you!**

 **Akiza: How Evergreen puts up with you, I'll never know.**


	17. Lost time and Catching up!

**Grey: Finally set up in my new home-mostly…**

 **Free: All you need to do now is clear out the birds in the loft.**

 **Grey: What birds?**

 **Free: Just a couple crows and jackdaws pecking about for answers. (takes a long pole & stabs the ceiling causing the roof to fall down along with Crow & Jack)**

 **Free: See?**

 **Grey: I'm not gonna bother asking...Neither myself or Free own anything YGO, WKC or Gundam related, readers. Please enjoy the chapter while I pluck a couple peasants. (Grins evilly while holding up a pair of large pliers)**

* * *

Tapping her foot against the floor in a mixture of impatience and nervousness, Will stared at the door with such focus that it was amazing that the piece of wood did not instantaneously combust all of a sudden.

Eventually, the door opened and Seria stepped out quietly closing the door behind her before motioning for Will to follow her into the large living room of the abandoned apartment building they were residing in where Yusei and Leo were waiting. Upon noticing the girls enter the room, both males made a beeline for them at their own respective pace.

"So how are they?" Will asked concernedly now that they were away from the room containing the recuperating Akiza and Luna.

"Well, as I had suspected, the girl-"

"Her name's Luna and she's my sister!" Leo interrupted glaring daggers at Seria.

"Take it easy, Leo. She just doesn't know Luna as well as the rest of us." Yusei told the boy calming him down slightly.

Having been friends with a pair of siblings during his Enforcer days, he had a fair bit of experience defusing situations when one of them had gotten injured. Seeing how Leo had calmed down somewhat, Yusei motioned for Seria to continue.

"Your sister is fine. Her arm is merely bruised from the attack." Seria assured the young greenette. "If she keeps her arm in a sling to prevent doing anything strenuous, it'll be healed within a few days."

After her explanation, Leo's shoulders slumped slightly in relief that Luna would be fine. It did not stop him from being angry at himself for not being there to protect his frail sister when she needed him however. As if that were not bad enough, the person who had saved her was the same jerk who had been beating him day after day for weeks since they had been kidnapped by Arcadia Movement. Not only that, but Luna also saw Mido as a friend quite possibly thanks to that battle she had gotten injured in.

If Leo did not know any better, he suspected Mido was trying to steal his sister away from him!

"What about Akiza?" Will asked with concern.

"She's fine- physically, at least." Seria sighed sadly. "Mentally, however…"

The two former Enforcers knew where this was going. Both knew that seeing Sayer pretty much die, if not from the fall then surely from his injuries upon landing or when the Arcadia Movement building collapsed, had been quite the blow to Akiza. Through their own paths, they had noticed that the burgundy haired Signer idolised the man although whether she had romantic feelings for him or saw him as the father she did not have was something neither of them wished to look into.

"For now, I've got both of them resting up. Something you should be doing too, young man." Seria added looking pointedly at Leo.

"But I'm fine!" Leo protested.

"You've been subjected to...Sayer's test of drawing out psychic powers for a while. Had Midorikawa not held back during your matches, you wouldn't be standing here." Seria told Leo causing the boy to deflate but did not look to give up just yet.

Seria may have called it a _'test_ ', but to Will, now that she was back to her old self, that so-called test looked nothing more than a brand of sadistic torture Sayer had probably cooked up to watch people squirm and scream regardless of whether they had any aptitude for psychic powers. Just thinking of this made Will wish Sayer was still alive and not dead and buried all so she could bury the permed prick with her own two hands.

Then again, they almost got buried themselves also…

* * *

 _ **Last Night…**_

* * *

Watching as the floor above fell down to bury them, a blue shield suddenly flared up around the former Enforcers and Seria cocooning and protecting them from the falling rubble that bounced harmlessly off and continue down towards the ground floor.

As the last of the concrete rain subdued, for the moment, Will and Yusei cautiously stepped away from the wall half amazed by what had just happened and half surprised that they were still alive inside a collapsing building.

"What just happened?" Yusei asked wondering if the power of the Crimson Dragon had just saved them.

"This happened." Will explained holding up a familiar spell card for Yusei to see which was still glowing slightly in the now unlit area.

If Yusei was curious or puzzled, about the card and how it managed to save them, he wisely put the topic on the back burner for the moment. With the immediate danger now passed, they now had to find a way to the nearest emergency exit and out of the building before the roof over their heads came down on their heads.

Trouble was, the debris that did not flatten them had turned the floor they were on into a miniature mountain range that would make it difficult to traverse especially for Yusei since he was carrying Akiza who was pretty much comatose in his arms as if seeing Sayer die had ripped the life right out of her.

In Will's eyes, their only hope of escape, it looked, was if the psychic duelist cradled in Yusei's arms snapped out of her funk and flew them out of the building on her Black Rose Dragon but just one glance at Akiza told her that that plan of escape was not happening.

It really looked like their run of good fortune had finally run dry.

 _'So this is where I'm gonna die? Miles from home while regretting my last moments with Kari were of me snapping at her?'_ Will thought sadly beginning to resign herself to the fact that she was going to die inside a building that had been a prison to her for the past two years.

The next second, Will was nearly screaming bloody murder as a twenty foot robot rose up from the atrium void to hover in front of them. Nearly being the key word as she recognised the teen sitting on the robot's shoulder and only just managed to prevent herself from screaming like a little girl.

"Climb on!" Mido shouted as Unicorn Gundam held out it's hands for them.

Not even bothering to ask how Mido was doing this, Will quickly scrambled onto the giant servo followed closely by Seria and then Yusei despite not fully trusting the teen as much as Will did.

"Where're the twins?" Will called out to Mido over the roar of the mecha's thrusters mixing in with the collapsing of the building.

"Outside." Mido replied.

"You're gonna have to be a bit more-!"

This time, Will was unable to prevent herself from screaming out like a little girl as the mecha's main thrusters flared to life and went shooting through the nearest window just seconds before the Arcadia Movement building came crashing down.

* * *

 _ **Present…**_

* * *

 _'If it weren't for Mido and this card of mine, we'd have all been a whole lot flatter_.' Will thought as she stared at the card. _'Maybe I should just wear this round my neck rather than ask Alastor to make it into an actual spell card. It'll make breaking into Sector Security's card safes a lot easier when I get back.'_

She also had to properly thank Mido for coming back to rescue her and the others. Sure, the taciturn teen had brushed it off saying they should thank ' _Pinky_ ' instead- Mido's nickname for Luna, apparently- for insisting they should wait for them after seeing those two giant monsters leaning against the building. Realising that the girl would not budge despite the danger, Mido reluctantly went back inside to find Will and the others so they could all get away from the area before whatever happened to all the people who had vanished happened to them too.

She could still remember the twins faces when they landed after their escape from the building, a cross between relief at seeing them come back alive and well and awe at the sight of their ride. At least two weeks in the same building as Mido and neither twin seemed to think that he was a psychic duelist until that moment it seemed. Then again, Will was one to talk having not put two and two together until the teen in question had lead them to an abandoned apartment building on the far side of Daimon Area in downtown New Domino City.

"Will, are you listening?"

Blinking in surprise, Will turned to Yusei to see him looking at her with that familiar, serious look etched into his face. There was also no sign of Leo suggesting that, while she was away in her own world, he had finally given in and had been lead off to another room for some rest himself leaving just the two former Enforcers alone in the room while their landlord, Mido, had gone off to check up on his territory and see what had happened while he was away.

"Uh..." Will replied giving Yusei a nervous smile.

"Seria says we should take Mido up on his offer until Akiza's recovered then maybe move elsewhere." Yusei told her.

"Sounds like you still distrust Midjust o even though he saved our lives and helped Luna rescue her brother." Will speculated.

"He did allow Luna to get hurt." Yusei pointed out.

"They were unaware of what Sayer had done to those guys until the first attack. Both Luna and Seria said so themselves" Will defended briefly wondering if Liquid and Okita had 'disappeared' like everyone else in the building before returning to the topic at hand. "'Sides, he's a city version of us Satellites- Kinda reminds me of you, actually...with a _pinch_ of Jack sprinkled on top."

Yusei sighed and decided to just drop the topic for the time being. Even though he, as Will correctly deduced, did not trust this new friend of her's, there were more important matters at hand to focus on and needed to bring Will up to speed on them as well as find out just where his old friend had been for the past two years.

"So, what happened to you? How did you end up here and part of the Arcadia Movement?" Yusei asked.

"Honestly...I'm still trying to wrap my head around it." Will confessed rubbing the back of her head subconsciously. "One minute, I'm chasing after Kari in order to make up for snapping at her. Then this permed prick suddenly shows up and...does something with a spell card- a spell card, can you believe it!- Next thing I know, I'm apparently part of this Movement that prick runs after sleeping for two years- Two. Whole. _Years_!- Can you believe it?!"

Despite himself, Yusei could not help but grin as Will became more animated as she explained her story as if merely complaining about a bad day she had had.

"As if it was not weird enough already, I then get whisked off to some parallel world where duel monster spirits live to save Luna only to come back and find myself nearly getting killed by a collapsing building!" Will finished off. "I know I've been asleep for a long time but, do I really have to go through so much crazy _shit_ at once?!"

Yusei honestly wanted to tell Will she had gotten off lightly compared to himself but, after hearing all that she had gone through in two weeks compared to what she had missed out on for the past two years, he was unsure who had experienced the lesser of two evils as it were.

"So, how's your life been without me around to liven things up?" Will enquired now curious as to whatever shenanigans the old gang had been up to especially her baby sister and red-haired partner in crime.

"Where do I start?" Yusei began trying to find a suitable place to begin his own tale.

Will merely listened as Yusei told her about Jack stealing his latest duel runner, the one he started on just after The Enforcers disbanded, along with his Stardust Dragon and escaping Satellite to New Domino City where he made a name for himself as the new King of Games or, as Jack preferred, ' _The master of faster'._

After spending the next eighteen months making another duel runner entirely from scratch, Yusei then escaped Satellite also in pursuit of his so called friend to get his prized card back only to run afoul of Sector Security and end up stuck in the Faculty hence the marking he sported on his left cheek answering one of Will's many unasked and unanswered questions. Once getting a free pardon, Yusei then got into further trouble with Sector Security when he took back his duel runner and just barely managed to escape them thanks to Leo and Luna.

"They just took you in?!" Will asked incredulously. "No offense to them but, they live in the cushiest of castles- if Leo's complaints while coming here are anything to go by. Shouldn't they be looking down their noses at us like the rest of the posh pricks in this city?"

"If they were all like what you suggest, your new friend wouldn't exist and we wouldn't be here." Yusei pointed out to which Will had to grudgingly concede. "I'm actually wondering if it was not in part due to the fact that we're both Signers that we met even though Luna did not have her Mark yet unlike me and Jack."

"There's that ' _Signer_ ' stuff again. Just what does that mean, anyways? Sounds like an autograph writer club or something to me." Will remarked offhand.

"It's the whole reason why me and Jack are here in New Domino." Yusei replied seriously explaining in great detail about how the head honcho of Sector Security had duped Jack into stealing Stardust Dragon just to lure him to New Domino along with why he, Jack, Akiza and Luna had strange aztec-like tattoos on their right arm resembling parts of a creature called the Crimson Dragon.

Five minutes later, after Yusei had told her that Signers had dark counterparts and that there would soon be a fierce battle that would determine the fate of the world and not just Satellite, Will would not have half minded assuming her old friend and buddy had finally gotten high on runner fluids from spending so much time in a garage had she not been part of some strange fairy tale of her own. The fact that she had seen not only the aztec tattoos glow while in the Arcadia Movement building but had also witnessed and nearly experienced the aftermath of a battle between Signers forced Will to believe that this was no rabbit hole she had wandered down in her sleep.

"I gotta hand it to you, Yusei. When you get yourself into something you don't do it by half." Will finally snickered causing Yusei to smile also. "So, where and when does this kick off?"

"What?" Was the only intelligent reply Yusei could make.

"You heard me. Two of my friends are Signers, I've got a better relationship with another and share a unique link to another world with a fourth- there's no way I'm gonna just sit on the sidelines while those I know risk their lives for what seems to be the fate of the world!" Will argued heatedly.

Yusei frowned as he tried to find a way to keep Will out of a fight that was clearly not hers. True, she did seem to be on friendly terms with all the known Signers, including himself, but he did not want to risk losing her again having only just found her again yesterday. Then again, she was a skilled duelist and was undoubtedly still as skilled as she was two years ago even if she had been under Sayer's thumb all this time.

"C'mon, Yusei!" Will insisted. "Besides, you'll be going back to Satellite where it sounds like the rumble will be happening meaning Luna'll be having to go also. While there, I can go see Kari again and introduce the two- they'll kick it off great, I just know it!"

Just thinking about the little sister she thought she would never see again lifted Will's spirits no end. Sure she would have to apologise for snapping at her, then share a siblings waterworks fest for missing one another but afterwards, there would be happiness and laughter as the two caught up on what was missed, she could introduce Kari to the twins and maybe even Mido should she somehow figure out a way to get him to tag along.

As thoughts of joyful albeit dangerous times ahead flooded her mind, Will almost did not notice the change in Yusei's demeanor at the mention of her sister's name. At once her thoughts of joy turned to anger as she realised, the man had obviously not made any attempt to assure her that he had not made it to New Domino leaving her worried and under the impression she had lost someone else.

"Yusei...tell me Kari at least knows you're alive and well." Will growled as she marched right up to the crustacean haired mechanic having half a mind to slug him one for making her sister worry even more than she probably had for the past two years.

"...I'm sorry, Will." Yusei spoke almost too quietly for Will to hear.

"Damn right you are!" Will snapped back grabbing the front of Yusei's jacket. "When we get back to Satellite, you're gonna-"

"She's gone."

The words were almost as quiet as before yet, to Will, it sounded more like he had shouted them out at the top of his voice at such a pitch that it tore right through her as if she had just been shot.

"It happened just after you disappeared. Duelists from the gangs we defeated ganged together and attacked us after hearing we had disbanded." Yusei explained sadly the memory clearly painful just by the look on his face. "By the time we realised Kari had been taken…"

"Shut up."

"Will...please understand. We tried our hardest to rescue her." Yusei tried to assure her.

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Will shouted shoving Yusei away with enough force he was sent toppling over an old couch.

Not caring for her friend she may have harmed, Will grabbed her duel disk and deck from the corner table and marched towards the door to the apartment.

"Will! What are you doing?!" Yusei called out as he started to pick himself up from where he was sprawled.

"I'm gonna find a way back to Satellite, hunt down the jerks who took Kari from me and _bury_ them!" Will replied too blinded by grief and anger to even think about keeping her voice down in case she disturbed any of the other inhabitants of the run down building.

Pulling open the door with enough force to nearly tear it off its hinges, Will paid no attention to Seria who had come to see what all the fuss was about only to get roughly shoved to one side as Will made a beeline to the main staircase leading to the ground floor.

"Will, wait!" Yusei attempted to call out to her again while checking to see if Seria was okay after getting shoved hard into the wall only for his voice to fall on deaf ears.

He knew she would act irrationally after hearing the news and was afraid she would do something like this. It was bad enough whenever Kari got hurt, although it hurt more for the perpetrator once Will got hold of them, now it looked like Will was hell bent on going on a one woman vengeance mission until she either sated her rage or burnt herself out unless something was done to cool her off or at least detain her until she no longer saw red. Sadly, an angry Will was an unrestrained Will, meaning whoever got in her way was likely to receive more than just what she dealt to Yusei and Seria.

Unless of course, she was blindsided

Returning from a long overdue patrol of his territory, Mido had unwittingly put himself in harm's way as Will stomped towards him.

"Move over or get _run over_!" Will snapped making to shove the taciturn teen out of her way.

As if obeying her command, Mido seemed to suddenly disappear until a sharp pain in her stomach told her just where he had gone.

Having not expected the blow let alone the force behind it, Will collapsed to her hands and knees as she tried to catch her breath while also keeping the contents of her stomach at bay all the while glaring up at Mido who stared stoically back.

"Doesn't going out spoiling for a fight go against trying to lie low? I don't care what your problem is, but if you're gonna be staying under my roof for a while, I suggest you keep them under wraps." He told Will not moving from his place in front of her.

"Or what? You'll hit me?" Will managed to get out still glaring daggers at him.

"I just floored you, didn't I?" Was Mido's reply.

Despite the pain in her gut, Will got to her feet and straightened up to her full height so that she was staring down at Mido who still stood his ground. Despite being within striking distance of the teen she was now starting to seriously dislike, she refrained from lashing out with her fist evidently regaining her mind enough to know there was a possibility for a repeat performance should she try to attack.

"I just lost the one person in my life who kept me going. You have no idea how I feel living here in the city unlike me and Yusei!" She growled her nails cutting into the palms of her balled fists.

For a moment, Yusei could have sworn he saw a flicker of emotion cross across Mido's face before returning to it's stoic setting. Evidently Will might have struck a nerve but the teen had put his walls back up just as quickly as they had dropped.

"Maybe I don't." Mido agreed suddenly stepping passed Will surprising the redhead. "What I _do_ know, is that what you're doing won't bring that person back."

Staring at Mido's retreating back, Will finally let out a strangled yell before embedding her fist into the nearest wall. Not caring that she had an audience, the girl collapsed to her knees and openly wept for the first time since losing her parents.

* * *

 **Free: And another chapter finally done.**

 **Grey: Not to mention my home's finally clean again. (Glares at apron clad Crow & Jack currently sweeping the floor)**

 **Jack: A king should not be doing this sort of thing!**

 **Grey: (Seen only as a silhouette with star-like eyes holding a large pair of pliers) I'm sorry, Jack. Is there a problem?**

 **Jack: (Sweating buckets) Why of course not! Even a king would be honored to clean the home of a popular author.**

 **Grey: For you readers, kindly review & if you're lucky, we'll have another chapter up before the year is out.**

 **Free:...**


	18. Aftermath and Dusk!

**Grey:...Not a word.**

 **Luna: I'm not my brother you know, I won't say anything about your chronic procrastination...eh, oops...**

 **Leo: hehe burn!**

 **Free: Now don't make me put you in the corner...**

 **Leo: But Luna's the one who said it!**

 **Grey: Ahhh...this isn't helping...**

* * *

After Will's...breakdown, Yusei moved her to another room with a look of pain on his tanned features when the girl couldn't even see through the tears. And herself? Luna had taken to pacing outside the orangette's room, trying to work up the courage to see her, comfort her somehow...But what would she say? ' _Sorry that your sister was killed_?' Will lost two _years_ of her life, and now she finds her sister died without even knowing she was alright?

Unable to come up with any means to help Will in return for all the orangette had done for her, Luna sadly ceased her pacing and began walking away from Will's room her heart once again feeling heavy for being of little to no use. In a sense, Luna believed it was her fault as, were she stronger, like Will and Yusei, then Will would not have discovered she had a connection to the Spirit World which in turn would have kept Will off of Sayer's radar therefore she could have found Kari and the two would still be alive, together and not caught up in the mess they were in because she was too weak to do anything herself.

 _'If only I was stronger...Or if the Crimson Dragon chose someone else to be a Signer…'_ Luna thought dejectedly to herself.

No sooner had the thought gone through her mind, Luna shook her head violently mentally scolding herself for thinking of pushing her...duties, for lack of a better word, onto someone else even if they were better suited for the role than she was- she was not her brother who shirked his jobs whenever he could just to do whatever he pleased.

Shaking her head once more, this time to rid herself of such thoughts when there was enough negativity around thanks to today's events, Luna decided to spend a little time wandering the building. If this place was going to be her new, short term home until Will and Akiza got better, she might as well figure out where everything was- it may be the middle of the night right now but the last thing she needed was to go through a dozen doors before finding a working bathroom after all.

With her eyes already accustomed to the gloom, the petite greenette quietly made her way up the staircase and was surprised to see a light coming from an open doorway at the far end of the hall. She knew it could not be Yusei, she had seen him walk sadly back down the corridor on the opposite direction once getting Will into her own room and Seria was likely looking after Akiza again and Leo, well she could still hear him snoring even from the stairwell. Assuming there were no other residents here she had yet to meet, that only left Mido.

The moment the teen's name slipped through her mind, Luna found herself freezing up momentarily as she approached the doorway. Even after all that had happened to her since waking up in the Arcadia Movement building, Luna could not stop herself from being nervous around the taciturn teen. It actually frustrated her because she was friends with boys other than Leo, albeit just Dexter at the moment as Yusei, Bolt and Yanagi were too old respectively to be called boys even if some grown men did act like kids at times.

Okay, so there was the facts that he was quiet, could make his monsters real and apparently had harmed her brother numerous times while they were imprisoned painting quite the dark portrait of Mido in Luna's mind but, despite all this, the greenette wanted to at least get to know Mido enough if just to understand him and thank him for all he had done for them not to mention apologise for all the trouble she had definitely caused for him from the disastrous duel to having to carry her while sneaking around the Arcadia Movement building.

"What do you want?"

Completely unaware that she had now stopped in the doorway to the lit room, Luna managed to keep her startled _'Eep_ ' to a quiet squeak when Mido questioned her from where he sat cross-legged in the middle of the room with a box of was likely Duel Monster cards.

"Um...S-sorry for interrupting...um...whatever you were doing." Luna stammered her resolve to get to know Mido better disappearing in the non existent breeze "I just...figured that since I couldn't get to sleep…"

Luna's voice trailed off the longer Mido stared at her. Fortunately for the greenette, the taciturn teen did not keep his eyes trained on her for long and went back to what he was doing before she had interrupted him allowing her to release the breath she had been subconsciously holding.

"Um...What _are_ you doing?" She asked tentatively figuring the best way to start up a conversation would be to inquire about the obvious.

"Remaking my deck." Mido replied paying no attention to the girl who had now stepped up so that she could now peek over his shoulder to see his half assembled deck and an assortment of machine type monster spell and trap cards similar to the ones she had seen him use back in the Arcadia Movement building.

"So you use machine types do you? Leo also uses machine monsters- but I guess you know that seeing as you probably duelled him while you were locked up." Luna rambled in a small voice. "You didn't hurt him the way you hurt those men we duelled...Did you?"

"I held back." Was the curt response as Mido studied three trap cards in his hand before plucking one out and adding it to his deck returning the others to the box of cards.

"Oh...That's good." Luna mumbled as the conversation starter was once again shot down.

She could not understand how it was so hard to strike up a conversation with the teen. Her brother, Yusei, even Will and all her friends in the Spirit World, Luna had no problem talking to any of them. So why was it so hard just to talk to Mido like they were friends?

What if that was the reason? Did Mido not want to talk to her because they were not friends?

"Say." She began scrounging up whatever courage she had left. "I know you're only helping us because of a deal you made with Will but...do you...that is, if you want...do think we can be friends?"

For the first time since coming to the apartment building, Mido turned to look at Luna with what the greenette believed to be shock and surprise. At least, she thought she had seen him look surprised before masking it with his usual calm look reminding her of both Yusei and Jack strangely. Perhaps this was why Leo hated Mido so much- he hated the fact that Mido was more mature and similar to the two turbo duelists and he was not.

"Yeah, whatever." Mido grunted turning his attention back to his deck not noticing the the smile lighting up the greenette's face at his somewhat positive response.

Feeling happy that something good had finally happened to her in a while, Luna bade Mido good night and left figuring it best to not over stay her welcome and ruin the progress she had made with him.

"Idiot..." Mido muttered coldly as he listened to Pinky's footsteps fade away. "The moment we part ways, we'll never see one another again."

After all, he was a psychic, a person who could make Duel Monsters come to life. True, he had not abused his ability for selfish reasons, merely keep the peace somewhat in the area after his grandfather passed away, but that did not stop people from labeling him a monster and keeping their distance from him- not that he minded the latter.

No. The only way he would become Pinky's friend would be if something happened that forced him to tag along with Tangerine's merry, motley crew on their crazy quest. He had no idea just how bad he jinxed himself thinking that...

* * *

The next day Leo sat on the couch, or rather his makeshift bed, with his arms crossed as he looked up at the cracked ceiling with disdain. His pride had taken two hits these past few days, one, he had lost to Mido, who had been holding back! Whether that meant his psychic mumbo-jumbo or his actual skills was _Irrelevant_. Two, he had taken his big brotherly duty and rescued Luna before he could! It was unacceptable! "Unacceptable!" He shouted outloud in frustration, making Luna jump when she walked into the room.

"Leo, it's too early for you to be yelling like that..." Luna sighed as she went over to the single bed in the room and placed her duffle bag on it. Yusei's friend, Blister she thought his name was? Anyway he had snuck by the Security detail around their high rise building and got changes of clothes for the kids while they lay low. While Luna would probably be a little creeped out by a stranger going through her belongings, she was much more grateful for the chance to take a bath and brush her teeth. "Keep it down." People were probably still sleeping.

"No way! I can't let that that-Machine boy beat me!" She rolled her eyes as Leo started pacing in front of the couch while looking through his deck.

"Leo, you're a machine boy." Luna shot down the lame insult without sympathy.

"Morphtronics are totally different!" Leo defended childishly as he kept pacing before weirding out Luna by cackling evilly like a villain from one of his cartoons. "Yeah...yeah...Next time I'll mop the floor with his stupid Gundam's! Then I'll be the top dog!"

"Leo..." Whatever Luna was about to say was held off as the pink clad Greenette stared at her excitable, determined twin. Even after being kidnapped, forced to duel with a psychic, and incarcerated, he still kept up the same demeanor while she herself was a nervous wreck. "...I call the bathroom!"

"What!?" Leo looked up as his sister ran into the working bathroom and slammed the door behind her. "Hey! That's not fair!" He ran over and started to bang on the door with a fist. "Don't you _dare_ take all the hot water! Hey!" He needed to use it too!

* * *

Blister was sort of impressed with the kid they called Mido, he had a good hideout, good plumbing and electricity, he was sort of jealous that he didn't snatch it up first. His own hideout didn't even have a good shower. And this kid had a working _clinic_! It had IVs, breathing machines, those things that monitor heartrate and such. There was probably a name for them but he was a bit distracted at the moment keeping a sharp eye on the two psychic cultists they had in the room, granted one was in a coma but...

"You don't have to watch me you know..." The second psychic sighed as she was checking Akiza's pulse, the redhead was comatose on the gurney that was obviously appropriated from a regular, _legal_ clinic. But she had no right to be picky. "I'm sure you could use some sleep after riding around all night." She recalled that he had been riding around getting supplies so that they could stay low without securities poking around. She herself was dressed in a plain blue jean jacket, white blouse, and blue jeans. After all she couldn't run around in the Arcadia movement uniform now that they were under so much scrutiny.

"I'll sleep when I'm sure you won't brainwash her." The short, blond haired woman winced at the verbal jab as she pulled the blanket over the redhead so she'd be more comfortable. "Yusei went through a lot of trouble to keep her safe, so-"

"I know!" Blister raised an eyebrow at the shout, he saw the woman tense with her fists clenched tightly before she slumped, tired an empty as her fists unclenched. "I know...It wasn't supposed to be like this, I-" She cut herself off as she realized she was trying to convince herself rather then him.

"...I think you need to sleep more then I do." Blister sighed as he scratched his head, feeling bad that he had jabbed at a sore topic when the woman gave up everything she knew to help them. That and he had a thing for ashy blonds, not that he'll ever say it to her face. Maybe after all the craziness had passed.

"I can't...I'll just see their faces." Seria sighed as she rubbed at her tired eyes. She was glad that the scruffy man hasn't asked more. Those children still haunted her dreams, so she busied herself with making sure Miss. Akiza was comfortable and stayed awake with her. "Now that it's come to this...I'll need to notify her parents." She dreaded that call, the Movement had honored Alisa's wishes and shielded her from her family, Seria could sympathize, but they needed to know their daughter was alright, even if she was in a coma.

"Hey, I'll be in the room with ya if that helps any." Blister shrugged, Seria almost gained a smile at the comfort as she took out a cellphone.

"Thank you." She started dialing the number before a red glow got her attention, she knew what it was, she had seen it before. It was the Signer mark on Alisa's forearm. Trouble was, she also knew that the Signer mark would only flare up if two Signers were duelling one another or...

"Get Yusei!" Seria ordered as she held the call off, the man tore off to get the boy as the mark glowed blindingly.

* * *

Down in the garage of the building, Yusei had been busy tinkering with his duel runner when his mark suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree. He was hoping that doing some fine tuning would help get his mind off of Will's sudden breakdown and certain past events that he wished had not happened but the image of Will, the strong and independent girl he had known in Satellite, now nothing more than a complete mess was like trying to get an oil stain off a white shirt- and being a mechanic, he knew how hard that was.

He really needed to snap out of this funk that he was starting to drown in. The Dark Signers were somewhere within Satellite and he really needed to get over there pronto and stop them before they made their move. Trouble was, as good a duelist as he was, Yusei knew he would not be able to accomplish this task alone and, while he may not have shown it, hearing Will volunteer herself to his cause had him thinking they had a real chance of succeeding especially once Jack joined them also along with Crow when they returned to their home. If Akiza were to join them also once she recovered, Yusei was sure they would be strong enough to defeat the Dark Signers.

Then the truth about Kari came out and it all went tits up big time. Now Yusei was stuck at a crossroad: does he stay here and wait for both Will and Akiza to snap out of their states or just leave them under the care of Mido and go off on his own?

As Yusei weighed the pros and cons of the two decisions, he was surprised when his Signer mark suddenly flared to life warning him of nearby peons of the Dark Signers. How he knew this, he could not explain but, it did tell him that they were in trouble and sitting around surrounded by tools and a dismantled duel runner was not going to do anything to get them out of it.

"Oi! Yusei!" Blister yelled as he skidded through the doorway out of breath."That Arcadian doc wants to see you! Dunno what it's about but it's urgent!"

He had _no_ idea how much of an understatement that was.

"Blister, find the twins and take them to Akiza's room." Yusei told his friend as he stood up and equipped his duel disk.

"What about Will and Mido?" Blister asked.

"They're after us Signers so they'll likely leave them alone." Yusei replied making sure his deck was ready as he passed Blister and started up the stairs to the ground floor.

In truth, he much preferred it if Mido did not get involved anymore. It was not that he was not grateful for what the taciturn teen had done for them, but just by giving them a roof over their heads, Mido had likely made himself a target of the Dark Signers and Yusei had no idea if they would go after those affiliated with their Crimson Dragon counterparts and with Will the way she was, Yusei doubted she could hold her own against a Dark Signer minion let alone an actual Dark Signer.

"They? You mean those Dark Signer guys that old man was going on about earlier?" Blister asked referring to when Yanagi began spouting all that mumbo-jumbo about the Crimson Dragon and light and dark Signers just days before the Fortune Cup and all the chaos that had happened within. "They're here?!"

"No, just some of their underlings." Yusei explained glancing at his lit mark. "They probably tracked us using the marks Akiza, Luna and myself bear."

"And you're gonna go meet these guys head on?! That's gotta be crazier than your stunt to get your duel runner out of Sector Security custody!" Blister swore recalling how close the teen had been to getting recaptured if not for the timely aid of the twins.

"Maybe so..." Yusei agreed as they neared the building's foyer. "But if it's just their underlings, I should be able to handle things myself."

Blister wanted to argue but, given his own duelling skills had deteriorated since his last duel and that Yusei was the current champion, he had no idea if the teen would listen to him.

"Yusei, you sure as heck better know what you're doing!" The former duellist grumbled as the two parted ways at the foyer, him heading further upstairs while Yusei exited the building hoping to head the enemy off before they arrived.

 _'That makes two of us._ ' Yusei thought as he exited the building.

* * *

"Oi, Leo! Luna!" Blister called out as he slammed open the door to their room with such force the male greenette nearly screamed like a girl in fright...or maybe that was the female greenette. They were identical twins after all.

"Wha-Whu-What's going on?!" Leo stammered. He was just putting the finishing touches on his strategy to beat Mido when the man suddenly came barging into the room.

"We got some unpleasant guests approaching. Where's your sister?" Blister asked trying not to show his impatience.

As if waiting for someone to say that, Luna suddenly came running out of the bathroom cocooned in a large towel leaving just her head and feet poking out of either and leaving puddles in her wake. Even through towel, her Signer mark was clearly visible. Like cloth covered torchlight if that made any sense.

"They're coming!" She gasped.

"Who's coming?!" Leo asked conflicted at whether to be angry they knew something he did not or concerned about his sister who was clearly scared of whatever this was that was happening.

"We've no time for this! Come on!" Blister snapped grabbing Luna's duffel bag and motioning for the two greenette's to the doorway. "Upstairs to the wit-Akiza's room! Hurry!"

Finally realising the urgency of the situation, the twins hurriedly followed the man's order and rushed, or in Luna's case waddled, up the stairs to join Seria and Akiza in the makeshift clinic the former surprised to see them all instead of the person she had requested.

"Where's Yusei?" Seria demanded.

"Being himself and tackling the problem head on like everything else he's done since I met him." Blister explained to the nurse. "He should be fine- he _is_ the Champion, after all."

This seemed to calm Seria down slightly. Yusei Fudo was the current duelling champion of New Domino whether standing or runner suggesting that he clearly had a high level of skill considering the former champion, Jack Atlas, had defeated countless duelists during his reign even if some of those had been fixed without the blond Signer's knowledge according to Arcadia Movement databases. With the iminent threat seeming to be handled by the champion, this allowed Seria to deal with the more obvious elephant in the room.

Before Blister or Leo knew it, the two males were suddenly shoved right out the door and into the wall opposite before said door slammed shut in their faces.

"What the hell, woman!?" Blister snarled as he stood up and made to kick open the door before Seria opened it again and glared at him with such intent he did not know whether to be turned on or turning away in fear.

"A girl needs her privacy to get changed!" She scolded the man referring to Luna's current state of undress. "If you wish to do something while waiting, why don't you try finding Mr Midorikawa. He's bound to have an exit or two ready for emergencies such as this should things look bad for us."

And with that, Seria slammed the door shut in Blister's face leaving the man to admire how hot she had looked when she was angry just now. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone, that is.

"What's her problem?!" Leo grumbled as he rubbed his sore rump. He had seen Luna get changed before and vice-versa so it was not really a bother for him- they had shared baths and everything when they were younger and their parents did not have super busy jobs on the other side of the world that prevented them from living together like one big family so why should _now_ be different?

"Trust me, kid. You'll understand when you're older." Blister told the greenette sagely.

Right now however, what really needed to be done was to find Mido and pray that if, just if these guys Yusei was going to meet managed to beat him, there was a way out for them before the shit really hit the fan.

* * *

Squinting slightly as he stepped out into the morning sunlight, Yusei was surprised to find Mido standing in the middle of the barren road and staring down the road as if expecting someone.

"What are you doing out here?" Yusei asked noticing the teen had his duel disk equipped and primed for a duel.

"Someone's invading my territory." Mido replied not tearing his gaze from the road. "So I'm going to kick them out."

For a moment, Yusei actually thought the taciturn teen meant that literally given the size of his monsters and his psychic abilities. While the gearhead side of him wanted to find out if it were possible to dismantle a machine monster, the life and death urgency of the situation forced him to dissuade Mido from even _thinking_ of battling whoever the Dark Signers were throwing their way.

"This isn't your-"

"It became my battle the moment I agreed to shelter you." Mido interrupted glaring at Yusei as if he had insulted him. "I may not like you, but while under my roof you're under my protection. So just shut up if you're gonna spout some crap about it being your fight and all that."

Yusei wisely kept his mouth, as if sensing arguing any further would be hazardous to his health- literally! At least he could now understand why Will and Luna vouched for the teen. While he may remind Yusei of Jack's pompous attitude, Mido appeared to have a strong sense of pride and honor and him trying to force the teen to runaway clearly did not make any headway into earning his trust.

Whatever else Yusei wished to speculate about Mido would have to wait however as footsteps could be heard approaching them from the direction Mido was now glaring in once again. Shading his eyes against the sun, Yusei could make out the forms of three street duelists walking towards them. For a second, Yusei almost thought his mind was playing tricks on him: surely the Dark Signers, whose power was great enough to supposedly destroy Satellite, were not just a bunch of average duelists who lived off the streets like himself? Then he noticed the dark mark on their right forearms. Even from this distance, Yusei could make out the clear picture of a spider in a style similar to that of his own Signer mark.

"Yusei Fudo...How kind of you to walk freely to your own _demise_." The underling in the middle commented darkly as the three came to a stop ten feet from Yusei and Mido. "Will you divulge the locations of your brethren just as freely or do we have to...' _persuade_ ' you to do so?"

"They're in that building over there." Mido replied motioning to his home with his thumb before Yusei could formulate a reply. "But this is as close as you're going to get to them."

"Oh? Are you saying you're gonna stop us?" The underling on the right asked with a sneer that did not fit properly on his face. "We are minions of the Dark Signers, the bringers of destruction. What does a mere boy like you-"

The underling's question stopped suddenly as one of Mido's Gundam monsters appeared before the underlings shaking the ground beneath their feet due to Mido's power making it a real, ten foot implement of destruction.

"Imagine _that_ coming down on your head." Mido told the trio, his demeanor betraying nothing about whether he was bluffing or not, to Yusei _or_ the underlings.

"He...hehehe...You're playing with a fire you can't handle, boy." The underling from before chuckled as as he readied his duel disk. "I deal with this one."

Before Mido or Yusei could move, a ring of purple fire flared to life around Mido and the minion.

"MIDO!" Yusei called out to the teen before noticing one of the remaining underlings was already making his way towards the building and Akiza and Luna. "Wait!"

His cry was cut off as a wall of fire rose up before him. Turning round, the Signer noticed that he too was now trapped inside a ring of fire with one of the underlings for company.

"You are one of our targets, Yusei Fudo!" The underling stated as he readied his disk. "By the end of this Shadow Duel, you will cease to exist!"

"A...Shadow Duel?" Yusei asked not quite liking the sound of this set up.

* * *

 **Leo: What!? A cliffhanger?! _NOW_!?**

 **Grey: Yea.**

 **Leo: what happens next!? Do I get a duel?! Do the real dark signers show up!?**

 **Grey: Yea...Yea...**

 **Luna: (Blinks before poking Grey in the side...and eeping when she fell over) W-What's-**

 **Free: Collage.**

 **Leo &Luna:...(Blinks)**

 **Free:You'll figure it out when you're older. Alright folks, read, review...and see ya whenever.**


	19. Songs of Fire and Ice!

**Free: Not to sound like I don't want you here or anything but, why are you here?**

 **Luna: Wanted to know if Grey was feeling any better.**

 **(Both glance over at a door with a piece of paper on it saying "Do not enter!")**

 **Free: She's...uh...just having trouble adjusting to college life again.**

 **Luna: "?"**

 **Free: Want to do the disclaimer while you're here?**

 **Luna: Okay! Free and Grey do not own 5 D's or anything else only own the words below.**

 **Free: This includes those in the last chapter which Grey forgot to mention.**

* * *

Never in her life had Will ever felt so _empty_. Even when she had lost her parents, she had somehow managed to stay strong not for herself but for Kari's sake.

Everything she had done, from helping the Enforcers liberate the poverty stricken Satellite to putting her life on the line to keeping food on the table, she had done for Kari in the hopes that, when she grew up to her age, she could smile and enjoy her life unlike herself. Even after waking up from the corruption Sayer had placed on her, Will's desire to see Kari smile and be happy drove the orangette to keep going. She had been the light Will had dedicated herself to remain shining on her otherwise bleak reality only for reality to turn round and show her just how harsh it could be.

But now she was gone and Will could only blame herself for it. Had she not chased Kari off, she would likely still be in Satellite waiting impatiently for Yusei to stop dicking around with that Fortune Cup stuff and finding her missing sister- that or maybe found a way over to New Domino to find her herself Will thought for one humorous moment before mourning in sorrow once more.

" _So this is how you're gonna spend your free days?_ " A familiar voice echoed from the duel disk still attached to Will's arm.

Blinking her tired, red eyes, Will stared at the piece of technology like it was the last thing she wanted to see and quickly tore it from her arm and tossed it across the room not caring for her deck as the cards scattered everywhere when the disk connected with the wall.

" _Wow. That's a nice way to say hello to someone who's just trying to see if you're okay after all that happened the other day."_ Yulie commented dryly as she materialised despite her card not being on the duel disk.

"Go away…" Will croaked not wanting to speak to anyone real or spirit.

Seeing the way Will was acting, Yulie let out a frustrated sigh before walking over to Will grabbing her by the shoulder, making her face the spirit then slapping her right across the face. Even if the girl was not real, that slap was real enough to knock some sense into Will. It even left a slight imprint on her face.

"What the hell!?" Will snarled as she got to her feet. Spirit or not, she was going to wipe the floor with Yulie before sending- no, _kicking_ her back to the Spirit World.

It was too bad that Yulie seemed to be quicker on the draw with a backhand that knocked Will back down on her ass now with both cheeks stinging painfully.

 _"Now that I have your undivided attention_." Yulie began as she massaged her sore hand. " _Start talking."_

"What's there to talk about? I screwed up, Kari's _gone_ …" Will spat dejectedly staring down at her feet. "Just leave me alone to rot."

It was the wrong thing to say. Before Will knew it, she was on her knees again clutching her head after Yulie karate chopped her right atop her head. Now, Will had never drank much in terms of alcohol but, if she were a drinker, she reckoned this is what a hangover would feel like.

" _So, you're just gonna leave Luna to save us from Zeman by herself?! We both know that girl got as much self-confidence in herself as Torunka has common sense!"_ Yulie scolded Will glaring with such intensity it would not be surprising if she suddenly shot lasers from her eyes.

Will could not argue with that logic. She could not recall seeing Luna smile properly once since meeting her. Even those times she did smile looked forced and barely lasted more than a second.

" _Look. The way I see things, you have one of two choices to make: sit here, rot away and forget about your friends who need you OR pick yourself up and pray that your disk still works before getting out there and protecting your friends!"_ Yulie told Will as she began to fade away. " _Just...try to remember Kari's likely to give you hell for just sitting here on your ass while your friends are in danger_."

Will remained silent as Yulie faded from view, her words stinging far worse than the blows the spirit had dealt to her. As much as she was loathe to admit, the spirit girl was right about what Kari would do if she were still alive.

Trouble was, it still did not make her choice any easier.

* * *

"Welcome to your final resting place, Yusei Fudo!" Underling declared with open arms to his opponent who was looking from him to the walls of purple flames to the faint forms of Mido and his opponent within their own ring of fire.

"What are you talking about?!" Yusei demanded his Signer mark burning bright red as if warning him of some unforeseen danger.

"Oh, you shall see soon enough! Just know that your own red Mark will soon be dyed pitch black as Darkness itself when the Dark Signers emerge victorious!" Underling proclaimed readying his duel disk.

"Fine! I'll just drag it out of you instead!" Yusei threw back in return readying his own disk.

He needed to end this duel quickly and stop the remaining underling who had disappeared into the building while his companions detained himself and Mido. As for Mido, Yusei could only hope that the taciturn teen could live up to the praise Will and Luna placed on him and take care of his own battle.

"Let's duel!"

 _ **Underling:4000**_  
 _ **Yusei:4000**_

"My turn! I begin with summoning Blizzard Lizard in defense mode and placing one card face down on the field!" Underling kicked off summoning a blue and white furred lizard creature and placing another card in his disk.

Blizzard Lizard: **(3 ATK/DEF:600/1800)**

"Turn end."

"My turn!" Yusei declared drawing his next card and immediately playing it. "I play the Tuning spell card! It allows me to add a Synchron monster from my deck to my hand by sending the top card from my deck to the graveyard!" Yusei explained drawing a monster card from the middle of his deck and showing it to the underling before summoning the minute warrior clad in orange with a scooter engine strapped to its back. "And the card I choose and summon is Junk Synchron!"

Junk Synchron **: (3 ATK/DEF:1300/500)**

"When Junk Synchron is successfully summoned, it can special summon a level two or lower monster from the graveyard to keep it company!" Yusei continued taking the monster card he had discarded to the graveyard through Tuning's effect and placing it in an empty monster zone on his disk. "I call out Speed Warrior!"

Beside Junk Synchron, a person all kitted out in some sort of aerodynamic protection suit appeared.

Speed Warrior: **(2 ATK/DEF:900/400)**

"I tune my level three Junk Synchron to my level two speed warrior!" Yusei declared as Junk Synchron pulled the ripcord of his engine backpack causing the monster to transform into three rings that encircled Speed Warrior. "'Clustering stars will call upon a new force! Become the path its light shines upon! Show yourself, Junk Warrior!"

Exploding forth from the pillar of light created from the summoning, the purple armored robot struck a fighting pose in front of its summoner.

Junk Warrior: **( 5 ATK/DEF:2300/1300)**

"Junk Warrior, attack his Blizzard Lizard with Scrap Fist!" Yusei ordered.

Dutifully obeying the order given, Junk warrior rocketed towards the beast type lizard monster with a primed scrap iron knuckleduster knuckle sandwich.

"Not so fast- Blizzard Tail!" Underling commanded of his monster as the opposing monster came within striking distance.

Spinning its tail with enough speed to kick up a blizzard, hence its attack name, Blizzard Lizard launched a full blown blizzard at Junk Warrior only to be smashed to pieces regardless. Despite this, Yusei suddenly collapsed to one knee as the sheer coldness of the attack seemed to seep through his skin to his bones.

 _ **Yusei:4000-3700**_

"What's going on!?" Yusei demanded trying to ignore how _cold_ he suddenly felt- it was almost as bad as Satellite in winter.

"Blizzard Lizard's ability is what's going on! When this card is destroyed by battle, you get hit with three hundred points of direct damage!" Underling explained coldly.

 _'That attack...I actually felt it_!' Yusei thought as he got back to his feet.

It was like when he had battled Akiza only this time, it felt _different_ \- looked different also as not only was there scorch marks on the ground from where Junk Warrior sped across the field, there was an indent on the wall directly behind underling that was not there earlier. If that was from his own monster, then this field allowed for fair play- as in, either duelist could harm the other, _literally!_

"I play two cards facedown and end my turn." Yusei finished placing two cards in his disk's spell/trap zone.

For now, all he could do was focus on just winning this duel then stopping the last underling before they started a Shadow Duel with either Akiza or Luna.

"My turn! And I'll begin by activating my Call of the Haunted trap card allowing me to bring back my Blizzard Lizard." Underling stated drawing a card while the monster destroyed the previous turn returned to the field in front of the trap card depicting a haunted mansion.

Blizzard Lizard: **(3 ATK/DEF:600/1800)**

"Next, I activate the spell card Ice Mirror! By selecting a level three or lower water monster on my side of the field, I can summon another monster with the same name in my deck" Underling explained bringing another Blizzard Lizard from his deck and summoning it to the field.

Blizzard Lizard(x2): **(3 ATK/DEF:600/1800)**

"Then, from my hand…" Underling felt no need to explain as he showed Yusei-

"Another Ice Mirror!?" Yusei exclaimed surprised and confused as a third Blizzard Lizard materialised on the field.

Blizzard Lizard(x3): **(3 ATK/DEF:600/1800)**

With three monsters on his opponent's field, Yusei knew something big was coming. As all three Lizards were special summoned, underling could still normal summon a monster with or without tribute. He could either sacrifice one or two Lizards to summon a high level monster with an equally high attack or maybe high level tuner monster- heck, even just a low level tuner and he could synchro summon a level ten synchro monster.

"I'll now sacrifice two of my Blizzard Lizards to tribute summon Dark Tuner: Dark Catastrogue!" Underling revealed sending two of his monster cards, plus his now useless trap card, to the graveyard in order to summon what looked like a child's rendition of Dracula- complete with horn and evil red eye.

Dark Tuner: Dark Catastrogue: **(8 ATK/DEF:0/0)**

" _Dark_ Tuner!?" Yusei muttered in puzzlement. Despite its appearance, he could tell there was something sinister about it as if it was a harbinger for a more powerful, more _evil_ creature. Especially after hearing the underling chuckle darkly.

"I dark tune my Dark Tuner: Dark Catastrogue to my remaining Blizzard Lizard!" Underling declared.

 _'This isn't right!'_ Yusei thought as he watched synchro summon happen. Similar to tribute summoning, most higher level synchro monsters of nine or higher required at least two non-tuner monsters as well as a tuner monster.

At least, that was his belief until he noticed something different happen with this synchro summon. Usually, the stars of a tuner monster became rings that encircled the synchro material monsters which, in turn, became mere outlines with their level represented by stars. While the synchro material monster, in this case Blizzard Lizard, became nothing but a pitch black silhouette, there were eight more stars in addition to the three provided by Blizzard Lizard which suddenly became five as three of the tuner's stars absorbed those of Blizzard Lizard's leaving five ominous black stars as Blizzard Lizard disintegrated.

"What's going on?" Yusei demanded.

"Light has turned to Dark! A dark synchro summoning summons a synchro monster with a level equal to the level of a Dark Tuner subtracted from a non-tuner monster." Underling explained for Yusei as the five dark stars circled the field like vultures.

Yusei could not believe what he was hearing. _Subtracting_ a high level tuner from a low level non-tuner would result in a minus level. Or was that the point? If his Stardust Dragon, Jack's Red Dragon Archfiend and Akiza's Black Rose Dragon were their respective Signer Dragons, did the Dark Signers, and in turn their underlings, have monsters created from the complete opposite of the synchro summoning procedure?

This appeared to be the case as the underling drew a monster card from his extra deck: its frame was black and its level was shown by five ominous blue stars- exactly the amount circling the field!

"When the shadows are devoured by even darker shadows the curtain pulls back and reveals a world without Light!" Underling chanted as the five stars combined as one to create a dark burst of lightning. "Come forth, Frozen Fitzgerald!"

All of a sudden, Yusei noticed a sudden drop in the temperature as a monster that looked to be half ice, half a cross and nothing but pure evil.

Frozen Fitzgerald: **(-5 ATK/DEF:2500/2500)**

"Now, Dark Tuner: Dark Catastrogue's effect activates: if used to dark synchro summon a dark synchro monster, one card on your side of the field is _destroyed_!" Underling as the dark tuner monster returned from the graveyard briefly and destroyed Yusei's Junk Warrior leaving the shocked Signer defenseless save for his facedown cards. "Now, Frozen Fitzgerald! Attack his life points directly with Blizzard Strike!"

"Not so fast!-" Yusei began only to stare in shock as his trap card only rose a few _inches_ before freezing over.

Before he could so much as wonder why his facedown was not activating, Yusei was suddenly struck by a hail of icicles the size of tennis balls and hitting with the weight of a truck knocking him into the wall of flames that merely threw him back to where he was first standing. This definitely proved that this duel was ten times _worse_ than his duel with Akiza.

 _ **Yusei:3700-1200**_

"When Frozen Fitzgerald attacks, my opponent can't activate any magic or trap cards until the end of the damage step!" Underling explained as Yusei shakily got to his feet. "And as you just found out, trying to leave here before the Shadow Duel's outcome is decided is impossible!"

In other words: there was no escaping until only one person was left standing- quite possibly _literally!_

"My turn!" Yusei declared. Regardless of who he was up against or what they were capable of, he would fight and win relying on nothing but his belief in his cards. "I activate my trap card: Descending Lost Star! This allows me to bring back one monster to the field in defense mode and I'm bringing back my Junk Warrior"

From the trap card Yusei had tried to activate during underling's battle phase, the purple robot warrior returned to the field albeit a level lower and with no defense points.

Junk Warrior **:(4 DEF:0)**

"But I'm trading him in to upgrade to something with a little more firepower- like my Turret Warrior!" Yusei explained switching out his synchro monster for an effect monster that resembled a turret defense tower on legs with a unique ability. "Now Junk Warrior's attack power gets added to his!"

Turret Warrior: **(5 ATK/DEF:1200/2000-3500/2000)**

"Now, attack his Frozen Fitzgerald!" Yusei commanded of his monster.

Aiming its two, double-barrelled namesakes at the target, Turret Warrior made short work of the ice monster although the temperature seemed to drop further as Frozen Fitzgerald exploded into a million shards of ice.

 _ **Underling:4000-3000**_

"Your pathetic attempt to destroy the Darkness has failed! By discarding one card from my hand, I can special summon Frozen Fitzgerald back to the field in defense mode!" Underling countered sending one of the two cards in his hand to cause the shards that was once a monster to rewind and become Frozen Fitzgerald reborn and leaving Yusei shocked once again.

Frozen Fitzgerald: **(-5 ATK/DEF:2500/2500)**

"And there's more: any monster that battles Frozen Fitzgerald gets destroyed! After all, revenge is a dish best served ice cold!"

Yusei could only watch as his own monster was reduced to frozen rubble that pelted him as he grudgingly marveled at the effect of the dark synchro monster which had once again left him open to a direct attack and would continue to do so unless he did something quickly.

"You should just give up, Yusei Fudo! A Dark Signer will _never_ fall!" Underling proclaimed coldly. "All of which you depend upon shall disappear off the face of the world...just as the monsters on your field."

That sent a foreboding shiver down Yusei's spine. But that did not mean he was going to just let it happen willingly.

"I play the spell card: One for One! By sending one monster card from my hand to the graveyard, I can special summon a level one monster from my hand or deck like my Sonic Chick!" Yusei explained sending Quillbolt Hedgehog from his hand to the graveyard to draw a monster card from his deck depicting a pink hatchling wearing running boots.

Sonic Chick: **(1 ATK/DEF:300/300)**

"Turn end!"

Underling sniggered as he stared at the minute piece of pink poultry protecting Yusei Fudo's life points. So he was hoping to protect his life with a monster that could not be destroyed by any monster he controlled with an attack value of nineteen hundred or higher, did he? Well, he had no monster in hand that could take it out but there were other ways around that wall that were much more fun.

"My turn! And the first thing I'll do is change my Frozen Fitzgerald into attack mode!" Underling began.

Frozen Fitzgerald: **(-5 ATK/DEF:2500/2500)**

"Then, I equip it with Drain Strike. When a monster equipped with this card attacks a monster with a defence lower than my monster's attack, the half of the difference is used to replenish my life points and the other halfs is given to you as damage!" Underling explained sinisterly as an equally sinister aura enveloped Frozen Fitzgerald. "Frozen Fitzgerald, attack his Sonic Chick!"

Unleashing another hail of cold destruction, the ice monster did little to the pink chicken that squawked at the sudden hailstorm it was put under. To Yusei however, he was once again propelled into the firewall leaving him feeling both numb and sore from the assault. He reckoned he would not be able to take another attack like that but, considering how low his life points were, that was probably the point.

 _ **Yusei:1200-100**_  
 _ **Underling:3000-4100**_

"It would appear that your remaining life points are indeed an indication of the fate of that which you depend upon." Underling stated darkly.

"What are you talking about?" Yusei groaned as he struggled to stand up.

"Satellite is soon nearing it's hour of destruction." The underling elaborated.

His words had Yusei recalling the image of his home covered in flames that formed a pictograph of a giant spider all too similar to that of the Signer Mark underling bore on his arm. Clearly, the underling knew of what was to come, but it was doubtful if his opponent would freely divulge of the destruction the Dark Signers would unleash upon Satellite and the rest of the world going by the difference in life points at the end of the underling's turn.

"I...won't let any of you do as you please!" Yusei swore he he began his turn. Satellite was his home. He had made too many friends and memories there just to let these people use it to create a second, and likely more devastating, Zero Reverse. "I summon Nitro Synchron!"

Beside Sonic Chick, what could only be described as a red gas canister with limbs appeared.

Nitro Synchron: **(2 ATK/DEF:300/100)**

"Because I have a tuner monster on the field, I can special summon Quillbolt Hedgehog from the graveyard thanks to its ability!" Yusei continued taking a monster card from his graveyard and summoning it to the field along with another monster due to his trap card. "Next I activate Graceful Revival which let's me bring back another monster from the graveyard! Welcome back, Speed Warrior!"

Appearing via their respective methods, a hedgehog with bolts for quills and the rocket suit clad warrior now stood beside Yusei's other, low level monsters. To some, those monster may be considered weak and unusable in a deck. To Yusei, they were his strongest allies.

Quillbolt Hedgehog: **(2 ATK/DEF:800/800)**  
Speed Warrior: **(2 ATK/DEF:900/400)**

"I Tune my level two Nitro Synchron to my level two Quillbolt Hedgehog, level two Speed Warrior and level one Sonic Chick!" Yusei declared as the pressure gauge atop the Synchron monster's head peaked critical mass and exploded into two green rings that encircled his other three monsters. "'Clustering minds will call upon a new force!Become the path its light shines upon!'"

Erupting from the flash of light, a large green fiend monster on steroids hovered in placed before Yusei. As if it were not intimidating enough, its tail looked more like a rocket evidently for a nitro boosted extra kick.

"Let's rev it up, Nitro Warrior!"

Nitro Warrior: **(7 ATK/DEF:2800/1800)**

The underling cared little for how powerful Yusei's new monster was. Even if it did destroy his Frozen Fitzgerald, he could easily ressurect it and destroy Nitro Warrior before he started his turn and finish off the champion- soon to be former champion.

"Because I used Nitro Synchron to synchro summon Nitro Warrior, I get to draw one card from my deck." Yusei added gaining a real morale boost when he saw the card his deck had supplied for him. "I equip Junk Barrage to Nitro Warrior. This doesn't give him any power boosts but it does activate Nitro Warrior's ability, granting him an extra thousand points for his next attack!"

Nitro Warrior: **(7 ATK:2800-ATK:3800)**

"Now, attack Frozen Fitzgerald!" Yusei ordered of his monster.

With ham sized fists glowing and doubled in size, Nitro Warrior leapt at Frozen Fitzgerald which might as well have been a fragile glass figure at how easy it went to pieces under a single blow from the monster and casting a shower of sharp shards over the underling.

 _ **Underling:4100-2800**_

"Now Junk Barrage's effect activates: when I destroy a monster in battle, half of the destroyed monster's attack points is dealt to your life points!" Yusei added as Nitro Warrior unleashed a further shower of green energy upon the underling.

 _ **Underling:2800-1550**_

"But, so long as I have cards in my hand, Frozen Fitzgerald can be revived as many times as needed!" Underling proclaimed sending his one remaining card in hand to the graveyard to revive his dark synchro monster once again.

Frozen Fitzgerald: **(-5 ATK/DEF:2500/2500)**

Unlike the first time, Yusei actually smiled when the ice monster returned to the field. He had pinned his hopes on Frozen Fitzgerald returning to the field as it allowed his own monster's abilities to kick in also.

"When Nitro Warrior destroys a monster in battle, he can switch your monster into attack mode and attack you again!" Yusei explained while underling watched in horror as his monster went from defense mode to attack mode.

Frozen Fitzgerald: **(-5 ATK/DEF:2500/2500)**

"So prepare to feel the might of my Nitro Warrior's Dynamite Knuckle! Attack" Yusei commanded.

Even before Yusei had finished his command, the hulking green monster was already charging towards Frozen Fitzgerald. In a single swing, the ice monster was once again reduced to fingernail sized crystals that cascaded over underling.

 _ **Underling:1550-1250**_

"And now Junk Barrage's effect comes into play again!" Yusei added.

Still reeling from the last three blows to his life points, underling could only cry out in pain as he was put under a deluge of green energy bullets once again.

 _ **Underling:1250-0**_

The moment underling's point counter hit zero, a brilliant flash of light blinded Yusei. When his eyesight returned, the first things Yusei noticed was that the ring of fire surrounding him had vanished, his Mark had now stopped glowing and that his opponent was groaning as he got to his feet as if just waking up from a night of heavy drinking. Strangely, the underling's Mark had also vanished.

"So, going to start talking now?" Yusei asked as he stepped towards the underling, ignoring the bruising and feeling of numbness in his body.

"What? What's going on?! Who are..." The underling began to ask before realising exactly where he was and turned pale.

"H-Hey!" Yusei called out as the underling turned and fled like the Devil was after him.

In that moment, Yusei learned two things. The underling was apparently under the Dark Signers' control similar to Will was under Sayers and that Mido was more well known in the area than he first thought.

Speaking of the taciturn teen...

* * *

At the same time as Yusei was duelling underling, Mido was stuck in his own 'trial by fire'.

'What is this?' Mido thought as he stared at the fiery walls caging them in like some sort of animal.

"Haha! Surprised, boy?!" The underling laughed. "This is a Shadow Duel! You may be able to make your monsters become real but here- you'll be the one feeling the pain!"

Mido frowned as he took in the man's words. By the sound of things, this...arena apparently had the power to make things come to life similar to his psychic abilities. How similar and powerful, he could not tell but was well aware that he was likely to get injured himself during the course of the duel.

But that was only under the assumption that Mido would let him land an attack!

"I don't care where here is." Mido remarked as he stared down his opponent. "You and your cronies are trespassing on my turf- and I don't take lightly to that."

'Foolish child!' The underling thought as the two drew their hand. 'This is our turf! And your final resting place to boot!'

"Let's Duel!"

 _ **Underling:4000**_  
 _ **Mido:4000**_

"I'll take the first move! Draw!" The underling declared drawing his sixth card. "I'll place two cards face down and summon Fox Fire in defense mode!"

In front of the two face down cards appearing on the field, a small red fox materialised, turning blue as it curled up in defense mode.

Fox Fire: **(2 ATK/DEF:300/200)**

"That'll do it for now. Your turn, boy!" The underling mocked the teen.

Mido merely scoffed as he drew a card and added it to his hand. "I summon F91 Gundam to the field in attack mode!"

From the portal that appeared in front of the teen, a ten foot, white mech with blue highlighting appeared equipped with a pair of back mounted beam rifles.

F91 Gundam: **(4 ATK/DEF:1400/1200)**

"And when summoned, I get to add one ritual monster or spell card from my deck to my hand- like this one!" Mido added plucking a ritual spell card from his deck and adding it to his hand after showing it to his opponent. "Now, F91 Gundam, wipe out his monster!"

Taking aim at the innocent looking fox with one of its two beam rifles, F91 Gundam fired a single shot that completely obliterated the monster. At the same time the monster blew up, a ball of flame shot towards Mido from across the field catching him square in the chest sending him stumbling backwards.

 _ **Mido:4000-3500**_

 _'The hell?!'_ Mido swore mentally as he clutched his stomach. Not only did it hurt, it _burned_ as if he had actually just been stabbed by a lit torch.

"Heeheehee! Right before you attacked, I activated my trap card: Backfire! Now, every time you destroy one of my fire monsters, you'll receive five hundred points of damage!" The underling cackled. "So...how does it feel to be the one getting hurt for a change?"

Mido ignored the jibe as the pain died down to a low manageable throb. He was not going to let this man think he was getting to him and he sure as hell was not going to let him win. He had promised Tangerine he would keep them safe and he was not going to back out on his word now.

"I'll place one card face down and end my turn." He grunted.

"And when your turn ends, my Fox Fire returns from the graveyard!" Underling cackled as the fox monster rematerialised one the field in front of him.

Fox Fire: **(2 DEF:200)**

"My turn! And I'll start by playing the spell card The Dark Door! With this card in play, only _one_ of our monsters can attack per turn."

Mido frowned as he tried to figure out the underling's strategy. True, The Dark Door would prevent him from destroying more than just Fox Fire and inflicting direct damage to his opponent but that would also work in reverse also. Was the continuous spell card merely just a delay tactic until the underling got the cards he needed to defeat him?

"And speaking of monsters, I'll summon Solar Flare Dragon to the field in attack mode!" Underling declared as a large, flame coated serpentine creature appeared before him.

Solar Flare Dragon: **(4 ATK/DEF:1500/1000)**

"Now, while I would so love to turn your monster into molten scrap, I'll just end my turn here." The underling finished somewhat lamely.

 _'He's not attacking_?' Mido thought in puzzlement. ' _His monster's got a higher attack value than mine. Is he being cautious about my facedown card?_ '

His question was answered by Solar Flare Dragon in the form of a fireball striking him square in the chest once again. Still recovering from the first attack, Mido was unable to stop a grunt of pain slip past his lips as the burning sensation around his middle flared painfully.

 _ **Mido:3500-3000**_

"Oh yeah- I thought I forgot something! At the end of my turn, Solar Flare Dragon deals five hundred damage to my opponent. Completely forgot about that!" Underling remarked offhandedly although, even through the pain, Mido could tell he was just being a jerk- he knew fully well the monster's effect and just wanted him to find out the hard, painful way. "Oh, and it also can't be targeted if there's another pyro monster on the field- just so you know."

 _'So that's his plan_ ' Mido grimaced as he glared at the underling. _'He's using Fox Fire and The Dark Door to prevent me from going after the real problem on the field!'_

By using Fox Fire as defense fodder, Solar Flare Dragon could not be harmed and, thanks to the effect of The Dark Door, the Dragon was protected from further monster attacks. Backfire was merely an added extra but, for a burner strategy, it was highly effective- so long as the loopholes were not exposed.

'All I have to do is have a single monster attack twice and I'll have him!' Mido thought as he drew a card smirking when he saw just what he had drawn. "I equip my Gundam with Dual Beam Sabers! Not only will this boost my monster's attack by five hundred points, but also allows it to attack twice per turn!"

F91 Gundam: **(ATK:1400-ATK:1900)**

Withdrawing two sword handles from a compartment on its left hip, green beams of energy ignited from one end each as F91 Gundam took a traditional two sword style stance.

"This is what you get for not destroying my Gundam while you had the chance. F91 Gundam, attack his monsters!" Mido ordered.

With a roar of the boosters igniting, the white mech rocketed towards the underling and his two monsters. With a single swing, Fox Fire was once again wiped from the field and Mido was rewarded with another fireball being launched at him burning his right arm.

 _ **Mido:3000-2500**_

"Now the other one!" Mido ordered through gritted teeth trying to ignore the pain.

"As much as I would want to see you deal more self harm to yourself, I activate my facedown card: Dust Tornado!" Underling countered as a sudden tornado intercepted F91 Gundam forcing it to drop it beam sabers as it landed back on Mido's side of the field. "With this, your not so little tin can is relieved of his new toys- and can no longer attack more than once. It also allows me to set another trap card if I so wanted- which I do!"

F91 Gundam: **(ATK:1900-ATK:1400)**

Mido could only glare through the pain at the underling as his strategy was literally blown away. He should have known his opponent would have had a countermeasure in place for something like this.

"Turn...over…" Mido grumbled.

"And in recognition of your efforts, Fox Fire returns to the field." Underling cackled with a flourish as the familiar monster made another encore.

Fox Fire: **(2 DEF:200)**

"And now, it's my turn and I think I'll turn up the heat by summoning another Solar Flare Dragon in attack mode!" Underling cackled summoning another fire snake identical to the first one. "Turn over- cue the fireballs!"

On cue, the two Solar Flare Dragons launched simultaneous balls of fire at Mido. One fireball per turn, he could endure. Two on the other hand produce such heat and pain that had the taciturn teen crying out in pain as he collapsed to his knees while the underling cackled sadistically at the sight before him.

 _ **Mido:2500-2000-1500**_

 _' Again! Why isn't he attacking? There's no way he's still suspicious of my facedown_!' Mido thought as he tried to ignore the intense burning sensation he was feeling all over his body.

"Does it hurt, little boy?" Underling jeered clearly enjoying seeing the sight of the taciturn teen on his knees and wracked with pain. "This is what you get, little boy, for trying to meddle in the affairs of the Dark Signers!"

 _'Now I see...He's toying with me_!' Mido thought feeling anger well up within him as he realised his opponent was not taking him seriously.

Sure, he was feared, even been called a monster a few times too, but that did not stop him from having a duelist's pride and being treated like a novice by this sadistic peon of some ancient cult burnt him more painfully than the burns he currently sustained spurring him to stand back up and show the underling just how wrong it was to underestimate him!

"My turn! I draw!" He called out drawing his next card. "I play Pot of Greed allowing me to draw two more cards!"

Drawing two more cards from his deck, Mido hoped that the...what was it his Grandfather always called it?...the Heart of the Cards? Whatever it was, he hoped that his deck pulled through for him and got him through this battle.

The glancing at the two cards he had drawn, Mido added them to the rest of his hand as a strategy came to mind. All he had to do now, was pray that it worked and allowed him to win the duel.

"Time I showed you how wrong it is to play with your food! I play the ritual spell card: Psychoframe Interface!" Mido began playing the spell card his F91 Gundam allowed him to draw. "By sending Freedom Gundam and G-Mascot Haro from my hand to the graveyard, I can ritual summon Nu Gundam to the field in defense mode!"

On the field in front of Mido, a white and blue mech and what looked to be a green spherical robot made a brief appearance before getting pulled into a portal beneath them. No sooner had they vanished, six strange white rockets shot out of the portal flitting around the area and distracting the underling from noticing the emergence of the white mech from the portal until the rockets attached themselves to one another behind the mech's left pauldron.

Nu Gundam: **(8 ATK/DEF:2500/2500)**

"Nice wall, but it's not gonna do you much good against my monsters' abilities!" Underling sneered clearly not seeing the full picture of his opponent's plan.

"I haven't even started. Next, because I have at least one Gundam monster on the field, I can special summon Core Splendor in attack mode!" Mido continued summoning a small futuristic, white and blue fighter plane that made a quick lap of the Shadow Dome they were in before hovering in place next to F91 Gundam looking like a toy next to the mech.

Core Splendor: **(3 ATK/DEF:800/800)**

"Now I activate its other ability: By tributing Core Splendor and returning F91 Gundam to my deck, I can special summon another Gundam monster from my deck to the field." Mido explained as the fighter jet self destructed and the mech disappeared into a dimensional portal beneath it. "And the Gundam I choose is this one: Blitz Gundam!"

From the same portal the white mech disappeared into, another, black mech emerged this one wielding a shield on its right arm and mounted grappling claw on its left.

Blitz Gundam: **(3 ATK/DEF:700/1400)**

"And now that he's on the field, I can play the spell card, Polymerisation- allowing me to combine Blitz Gundam on the field and Strike Gundam in my hand to fusion summon Strike Gundam : Sword Striker!" Mido continued as the black mech and another white and blue mech that appeared beside it fused into a single white and blue mech with a large sword on its back and a light blue gauntlet on its left arm.

Strike Gundam: Sword Striker: **(6 ATK/DEF:2400/1400)** (Counters:3)

"And now to activate its ability: when summoned, my monster gains three Strike Counters and by removing one of them, Sword Striker can change the position of one face up defense monster you control!" Mido explained pointing at underling's fox. "Like your Fox Fire, for example!"

Having let most of Mido's words go through one ear and out the other not really caring for what the taciturn teen did or said as, come his turn, he would be sending the boy to the world of Darkness. That is, until he realised that this latest oversized kiddies play toy had some serious firepower and had just changed his only defense monster into attack position.

 **Fox Fire: (2 ATK:300)**

Even if Mido would still be inflicted with five hundred damage for destroying his fire monster, underling would be losing over half his life points in one attack this turn and, should the taciturn teen finally play that facedown card of his, underling was beginning to feel like he was going to lose his battle. He could not let that happen!

"Tch! Guess I got no choice then- I activate my Destruction Ring trap card!" Underling declared deciding that playtime was over and the boy needed to be removed from the scene. He had only set it for that 'just in case' moment not expecting to have to actually use it. "I choose one of my monsters to go boom and we both take one thousand points of damage to our life points!"

Around one of the two Solar Flare Dragons necks, a ring suddenly materialised with a bomb instead of a gemstone as its center piece. Within seconds, the bomb exploded destroying the monster and creating a thick wall of smoke between the duelists. As if that were not bad enough for the taciturn teen, the destruction of Solar Flare Dragon activated underling's Backfire trap card and sending Mido another five hundred life points worth of damage his way.

 _ **Underling:4000-3000**_

Grimacing in pain as he experienced his first injury in a Shadow Duel, underling began cackling as he waited to see if the boy was still standing after losing all his life points. Perhaps he had already been claimed by the Darkness and already nothing more than a forgotten memory.

As the smoke began to clear, underling was shocked to see Mido standing within a pyramid of blue light devoid of any injury- well, any new injury at least.

 _ **Mido:1500**_

"You...but... _how_?!" Underling uttered unable to comprehend how Mido could still be around.

"Nu Gundam's fin funnels can create a _'pyramid barrier_ ' capable of protecting me from all forms of damage." Mido explained. "If anything, you should have destroyed your fox rather than one of your dragons."

Underling snarled lightly as he realised his error. He should have played it safe and destroyed his Fox Fire like Mido said so that, just in case Mido had survived Destruction Ring like he had, the effect of Solar Flare Dragon would have prevented Mido from attacking either of them. At least The Dark Door prevented either of them from attacking with more than one monster, that at least gave underling a little time to draw a card that would destroy Mido's lifepoint protecting monster- like Ring of Destruction, for example.

"Now, I'll activate my facedown card: Coordinator Burst!" Mido resumed flipping up the card he had place face down on the field during his first turn. "Thought it was a trap card didn't you? It was actually a card that allows me to summon a Gundam fusion monster by banishing the fusion material listed on the card from my field or graveyard."

In front of the spell card that had rose up in front of Mido, ghostly forms of two white and blue Gundam monsters residing in the teen's graveyard materialised only to be pulled into the spell card causing the card to shine brightly.

"Brace yourself, punk! I remove Strike Gundam and Freedom Gundam from my graveyard to fusion summon Strike Freedom Gundam!" Mido declared as the shining card burst to reveal a white mech with a black and blue torso with matching wings.

Strike Freedom Gundam: **(8 ATK/DEF:3000/2500)**

"Three-Three thousand attack points!?" Underling gulped in disbelief.

"That's only half of Strike Freedom's power; it can also attack all monsters on the field" Mido smirked before turning serious as he finally began his battle phase. "Strike Freedom! Destroy his monsters and end this duel!"

"N-No-Wait-Hold on!" Underling cried out backing away as Strike Freedom's blue fins separated from the mech and pointed at his monsters while the mech itself levelled it's two beam rifles at him.

His cries fell on deaf ears as laser beams fired from the floating fins destroying his monsters before being fired upon by the mech. The latter rather irrelevant as the destruction of underling's monsters already wiped the man's life points.

 _ **Underling:3000-300-0**_

Like with Yusei's victory, a sudden flash of bright light engulfed the field destroying the purple flames and removing the Mark from the underling's arm, not that Mido cared as he collapsed to one knee as his strength suddenly left him.

 _'Dammit!_ ' Mido swore feeling like a lobster that just got thrown in the pot to boil. _'What the hell kinda duel was that!?'_

He was not exactly a stranger to pain but, this was the first time where he reckoned his life truly had been on the line. Had he been the one to lose, would he have truly died? If that was true then did that mean?

Looking up to see if the underling was still alive, Mido barely had enough time to deflect the metal pipe the underling swung at him with his duel disk sending cards and disk parts everywhere upon contact.

"No disk to summon your monsters now, you monster!" The underling growled as he made to swing the pipe at Mido's head as the teen clutched his sore left arm.

He had no idea how he had gotten here or what he had been doing. What he did know, was that the strongest duelist in Daimon area was injured and on his knees before him. The kid had the gal to think he could rule over an area like it was his own playground and it was about time he got the punishment he _deserved._ At least, that was what the underling thought until he realised that there were still three, ten foot monsters lingering around despite the kid's disk being smashed up.

"Ten seconds!" Mido muttered as he stood up glaring at the underling. "Nine...Eight…"

Quickly taking the hint, the underling turned and fled with all the dignity of a scared little girl. He had no idea the moment he had turned his back, the three monsters began to fade away.

"Figures…" Mido muttered collapsing onto his rear. "All bark, no bite."

"Mido!" He heard Crabby call out as the older teen approach "You alright?!"

"Just a little crispy." Mido muttered glancing at Crabby who was looking a little worse for wear also. "What happened to you?"

"Arctic warfare, you could say." Yusei replied grimly as he offered Mido a hand. "Come on, there's still one left!"

Just as he said that, purple light could be seen blaring out of one of the windows of the apartment building that was all too familiar to the two teens.

* * *

The Underling sneered as he stared at his opponent standing across from him inside the ring of fire.

"You have no idea what you are getting yourself into, meddling with Dark Signer affairs." He commented darkly as he readied his duel disk.

"Perhaps…" Will agreed as she readied her own disk. "But that's not gonna stop me from beating your ass for coming for my friends!"

* * *

 **Luna: That was one long chapter.**

 **Free: Well, one duel didn't fill it enough but all three would've overstuffed it. Figured this would be okay.**

 **Luna: Maybe just have one duel per chapter if it goes beyond a certain word count? Also, maybe just stick with either the subbing or dubbing or doing it your own way instead of copying it from the episode. Also-**

 **Free: Okay! I get it! Shut up before I toss you in Grey's room!**

* * *

 _ **Original cards**_

* * *

F91 Gundam  
Water  
4  
1400/1200  
[ _Machine/Effect]_ When this card is successfully summoned: add 1 ritual monster card or 1 ritual spell card from your deck to your hand. Shuffle your deck.

Dual Beam Sabers  
Spell card/Equip  
Equip this card to a ' _Gundam_ ' monster. Equipped monster gains 500 ATK and can attack twice per turn.

Psychoframe Interface  
Spell card/Ritual  
This card is used to Ritual summon _'Nu Gundam_ '. You must also tribute monsters from your hand or field whose total levels equal 8 or more.

G-Mascot Haro  
Light  
1  
100/100  
 _[Machine_ ] A tiny, football sized robot used in a diversity of roles from a pet and companion to a Gundam pilot's co-pilot and inflight maintenance bot.

Nu Gundam  
Light  
8  
2500/2500  
[ _Machine/Ritual/Effect_ ] You can ritual summon this card with _'Psychoframe Interface_ '. While this card is face up on the field: your opponent cannot use spell/trap/monster card effects that deal direct damage to your life points.

Core Splendor  
Light  
3  
800/800  
[ _Machine/Effect]_ If there is a ' _Gundam_ ' monster on your field: you can special summon this card from your hand. Tribute this card & return 1 ' _Gundam_ ' monster you control to your deck to special summon 1 level 4 or lower 'Gundam' from your deck.

Strike Gundam: Sword Striker  
Water  
6  
2400/1400  
 _[Machine/Fusion/Effect_ ] (Strike Gundam & Blitz Gundam) When this card is special summoned: place 3 counters on it. Once per turn: remove 1 counter from this card to change one defense position monster your opponent controls into face-up attack position. If you end your turn without activating this effect: remove 1 counter. When this card has no counters on it: destroy this card.

Strike Freedom Gundam  
Light  
8  
3000/2500  
 _[Machine/Fusion/Effect_ ] (Strike Gundam & Freedom Gundam) This card can attack all monsters your opponent controls once per turn.


	20. Resurge the Knight!

**Grey: …**

 **Free: …**

 **Grey: …**

 **Free: Okay, I'll bite. Why are you staring at me like that?**

 **Grey: Did you really send Luna running home crying last chapter?**

 **Free: I did kinda snap at her at the end of the chapter, yes but not to the point she was running away in tears.**

 **Grey: And here I was thinking you liked her.**

 **Free: … Okay, first you're gonna do the disclaimer. Then, you're going to define your version of like.**

 **Grey: Fine. Fine. We don't own Yugioh 5D's or White Knight Chronicles just the words and cards below. Kindly read the chapter while have a chat with my partner here.**

* * *

"Dammit! Where the _hell_ is that teen!?" Blister swore as he stomped away from the umpteenth door he had kicked open in search of Mido.

He knew the taciturn teen liked his privacy, hence why he had been seldom seen since by the information broker since arriving at the apartment block, but to not be found when they actually needed him, Blister was starting to worry that the teen was actually in cahoots with the enemy and had deliberately lead those Dark Signer guys to this place.

If that turned out to be true, Blister reckoned that would be the final nail in that orangette's coffin- as if she did not have it bad enough that she had lost her sister.

Seeing as his search had turned up a whole, fat load of nothing, Blister had no choice but return to the psychic chick's room and break the bad news to her unless Leo had turned up trumps in his search of the building.

Sadly, the sour look on the kid's face told Blister what he did not want to hear before Leo even opened his mouth as the two convened at the stairwell.

"I couldn't find him anywhere!" Leo moaned as the two made their way towards the clinic. "It's like he just up and abandoned us!"

Blister could almost hear the gears in Leo's head start to turn as his own words washed over him. Were it not for the seriousness of the situation, he would probably find it amusing how quickly Leo would jump to negative conclusions concerning Mido all because he was jealous of how the taciturn teen was ' _stealing_ ' Luna away from him.

In all honesty, Blister could not understand why Leo was like this. If he had a sister like Luna, who looked like a shy wallflower in his eyes, he would be jumping for joy at seeing her actually talk to someone who was not related to her.

"Hey! Is it safe to come in?" Blister called out as he rapped his knuckles on the door to the psychic chick's clinic not wanting to repeat what happened earlier- well, _maybe_ when there was so much going on, perhaps.

Leo however, was too impatient to wait and just barged right on in. Fortunately, Luna was now properly dressed although her hair was not in her usual twintail style probably because her hair was still damp. She also did not jump when Leo pretty much barged in like he owned the place much like when at home unlike Seria completely not expecting the eleven year old to come charging in like a tank.

"Mido's not here!" Leo told the girls before either female could speak. "The jerk's ran off and left us to fend for ourselves!"

"And how do you know that?" Luna asked her brother.

"Because we can't find him! If he's not here then he _obviously_ ran away!" Leo replied like it was the most obvious of reasons- which it was.

"He didn't run away!" Luna snapped heatedly.

"And how do you know that?" Leo challenged.

"Because...because…" Luna tried but failed to answer her brother's question. She wanted to defend Mido but was finding it hard to do as, not only was there trouble inside the building, she was receiving feelings of pain and worry from Yusei due to their Signer Mark connection making it hard for her to protect her friend while a fellow Signer looked to be in a life and death situation.

"Well?" Leo asked feeling smug at finally succeeding in getting his sister to see just what kind of person Mido really was.

"Look, you two. We got trouble at the door and if there's more than one, I doubt Yusei can keep them all at bay at once." Blister interrupted the sibling squabble.

The crux of the matter was that Mido was not here and they needed to either find some place safe and secure to hide until the proverbial storm blew over or got the heck out of Dodge. And seeing as nobody other than Mido knew if this place had a Panic Room, their best option was to just take the unconscious Akiza and amscray!

At least, that was the plan Blister was poised to suggest before they all heard it. Footsteps coming up the staircase towards them- and all of them were sure they weren't Mido's if the silence in the room was to be interpreted.

"Come on out, Signers!" An unfamiliar voice called out to them. "The Darkness will claim you all eventually just like it will of your friends outside!"

Friends- as in _plural._ If the stranger was to be believed, then that meant that both Yusei and Mido were out there although only Luna seemed to be aware of just what was on the line should they lose if the sudden paleness of her complexion was anything to go by.

By the sound of it, the Dark Signer lackey was already on their floor, meaning that it would be impossible for them to sneak away undetected although, seeing as they had already found them once, even if they did escape, they were just as likely going to be tracked down again!

"Guess there's no other choice…" Blister muttered turning to Seria. "I'll stall this guy. You get the kids and Akiza out of here."

He knew he was not as skilled as Yusei- heck, even _Yanagi_ was probably a better duelist than him, he reckoned- but if Mido was going to risk his life for people he had barely known for long, he might as well did all he could also to protect them. He owed Yusei that much, at least.

"And just what are you going to do?!" Seria asked in disbelief. She had seen footage of Yusei and Midorikawa's past duels so was quite certain they had a chance of survival. In comparison, Blister probably had not been in a duel for a good five years and would be lucky to last as many turns.

Blister just smirked as he grabbed a couple things in the room and a few things from the pockets of his jacket. He might not be the duelist he once was, but he did have expertise in other areas.

* * *

"Don't bother staying silent, Signers! Even the shadows you hide in shall be consumed!" Underling called out hoping to coax his prey out from hiding. He could sense the presence of two Signers somewhere in the building but not the exact location- he was just an expendable drone in the Dark Signers eyes so why bother giving them precision tracking should they lose in a Shadow Duel?

Slowly making his way along the corridor glancing through the odd open door, the underling stopped in his tracks as a cloaked person stepped out of a room further down the hall. Judging from the person's height and the wing like Signer Mark on his exposed right arm, Jack Atlas had stepped up to take him down.

"Champion or former, a King doesn't hide." The robed figure remarked sounding just like Jack Atlas as he turned and walked away from him. "It's a little crowded here, don't you think? Follow me to somewhere more spacious where we can really see who's the better duelist!"

Underling merely watched as 'Jack Atlas' walked away and round the corner. Whoever that was, did he really think he could fool the Dark Signers with such a flimsy disguise? If the decoy was going in that direction, that just meant the Signers were in the opposite direction. Chuckling at his brilliant deduction, the underling walked off in the opposite direction of 'the King' completely unaware he had been two rooms away from two defenseless Signers, a doctor and a brat.

The moment the underling's footsteps faded around the corner, Leo poked his head out the door to see if the coast was clear before exiting followed by Luna then Seria pushing Akiza in a wheelchair and making their way along the corridor after 'Jack' who had been waiting just around the corner wiping off the felt pen on his arm.

"Amazing what a pen, a blanket and a voice replication device can achieve, ey?" Blister inquired before taking the little box away from his mouth with a satisfactory grin on his face.

"Let's save the bragging for when we're out of the firing line!" Seria pointed out pushing passed Blister and nearly running over his foot.

 _'A compliment wouldn't go amiss_!' Blister thought sourly as he and the twins followed after the wheelchair pushing doctor.

Quietly making their way towards the third floor landing, the group were in sight of their destination when the underling suddenly stepped into view blocking their escape.

"Did you really think you could run from the Darkness? No matter how far you run, the sun will always set eventually!" He proclaimed as he started to walk towards the group.

He just needed to get close enough to instigate a Shadow Duel and they would be finished. Sure, none of them had a duel disk or a deck, but even if they were more prepared, their souls would have been sent to the Underworld.

"Now then...Who wants to-"

Feeling something suddenly attach itself to his duel disk, underling barely had time to glance at his disk before suddenly finding himself getting yanked backwards by the arm saved from falling to the ground floor thanks to the third floor safety rail. That still did not stop his back from smarting upon connection.

"That was a very costly mistake!" Underling snarled as he stood up and turned round to glare at the perpetrator across the chasm with the same cable attached to his disk also connected to her own.

"That's funny. Cause it looks to me I did the right thing." Will commented grimly. "That cable only comes off when a point counter hits zero. You want to get your targets, you have to go through me first!"

"You have no idea what you are getting yourself into, meddling with Dark Signer affairs." He commented darkly as he readied his duel disk.

"Perhaps…" Will agreed as she readied her own disk. "But that's not gonna stop me from beating your ass for coming for my friends!"

"Will, wait!" Luna called out only for her words to be met on deaf ears as the two were suddenly surrounded by a ring of purple flames.

"Whoa! What's happening!?" Leo exclaimed.

"The same thing that probably happened to Yusei and Mido…" Blister muttered in response.

'Will…' Luna thought too worried about her fellow Spirit World traveler to realise her Signer Mark had faded and that Yusei had won his Shadow Duel. 'Please be safe!'

* * *

 _ **Underling:4000**_

 _ **Will:4000**_

"I'll kick things off!" Underling declared drawing a card. "I set one monster and two cards on the field and end my turn."

Three cards appeared face down on the field with two fading away leaving him with an almost empty field although that did not mean Will would have it easy.

 _'This guy's trying to get me to hang myself..."_ Will thought as she looked at her opponent's field with a suspicious gaze.

Set monsters were rare to see in any kind of duel nowadays only done if a monster had a 'flip' effect. Until Will knew just what kind of deck his opponent had and style, the best thing she could do right now was play it safe.

"I summon Successor of the Ancient Queen in defense mode!" She called out as an ashy blond woman in a pink dress appeared on her field, the woman glowed as she knelt in prayer. "And to end it, I'll place two face downs and end my turn."

Successor of the Ancient Queen: **(4 ATK/DEF:800/2000)**

"My turn. And before I do anything else, I flip summon Cyber Jar!"

Cyber Jar **:(3 ATK/DEF:900/900)**

"This destroys all monsters on the field then lets us draw five cards provided we summon or set any level four or lower monsters we draw." Underling explained as a futuristic looking jar appeared on the field unleashing a flash of green light that took out Will's monster before blowing up itself.

"Now, from the five cards I've drawn, I set Needle Worm and Morphing Jar #2." Underling declared setting the two monsters face down on the field and adding the other three to his hand. "How about you?"

Will's tongue swept over her front teeth as she drew five cards: three monsters and two spell cards.

"Out of the five I drew, I set Command Knight, Traveler of the Ancient war, and Ranger of the Ancient knight." The cards appeared on the field in a flash of knight. _'Don't tell me this guy is a Mill deck user...'_

One of the more unpopular types of structure decks, mill decks focused on deck destruction, preventing a duelist from drawing the cards required often allowing mill users to take out their life points if they don't empty their opponent's deck beforehand. It was more annoying to deal with for Will since her deck was a banish type.

"Now, because I set them this turn, I can't flip 'em- the _normal_ way, at least." Underling snickered before playing a card. "Fortunately, Book of Taiyou allows me to flip a set monster on the field. So Needle Worm can get some much needed sunshine and you get to lighten your deck by five cards."

Needle Worm: **(2 ATK/DEF:750/600)**

Appearing on the field, the purple, spiked caterpillar fired its head spike at Will's deck.

 _'I already don't like this guy..._ ' Will thought as she discarded the five cards with great annoyance including two of her Ancient monsters.

"Now, as the saying goes, good things come in pairs! I play another Book of Taiyou on my other face down: Morphing Jar #2!" Underling proclaimed. "When he's flipped summoned, all monsters on the field are returned to our decks and shuffled the we draw cards equal to the amount of monsters we put back setting them if they're level four or lower or tossing them if they're anything else!"

Morphing Jar #2: **(2 ATK/DEF:800/700)**

The jar that appeared on underling's field smiled evilly before disappearing along with Needle Worm as underling returned the two cards to his deck, waited a moment for the shuffle feature of his disk to rearranged the deck then draw two new cards: Needle Worm and Hiro's Shadow Scout which were promptly set.

 _'Scratch that, I hate him_.' Will thought with an annoyed growl as she took all three cards off her field, shuffled her deck, and set only one monster as the other two were trap cards. This guy was a broken record, he kept making her shuffle through monsters…

"And now I shall end my turn with this card: Cemetery Bomb!- for every card in your graveyard, you receive a hundred points of damage!" Underling finally ended as one of his face down trap cards rose up- and Will's disk suddenly lit up as if a bomb had _literally_ went off in her face.

 **Will: 4000-3200**

Will cried out in pain as her arm gained some very real burns.

"What...the _hell_...?" She hissed out as she glared at the smirking underling.

This was just like her duel with Akiza, but it felt more... _Evil_. Now normally, Will was not one to return the favor with interest. But with Kari no longer around to temper her violent nature, the gloves were off and the claws were out!

"If that's the way you wanna play...I activate the spell card, Warrior returning alive! With this I can return my Spearholder of the Ancient lands from my graveyard to my hand!" Her graveyard glowed before a light shot into her hand. "And now I flip summon Warrior of the Ancient sword, and summon my Spearholder!" Leonard popped up on the field as Caesar came onto it with a showy twirl of his spear.

Warrior of the Ancient Sword: **(3 ATK/DEF:1300/1400)**

Spearholder of the Ancient lands: **(4 ATK/DEF:1900/0)**

"No time for small talk, you two!" She called to the spirits when she saw them about to comment. "I activate my warrior's special ability! When he's with another Ancient monster, I can special summon Ark of Wizel from my deck!" A white glowing gauntlet appeared on the field.

Ark of Wizel: **(3 ATK/DEF:0/500)**

"And I use it to tune up my warrior! To bring out..." Leonard grabbed the gauntlet and put it on before slamming a knife into the slot and vanishing with a white glow with rings and stars. "Lost Knight Wizel in attack mode." The tried and true white knight slammed down next to Caesar with a huge crash, his eyes glowing blue.

Lost Knight Wizel: **(6 ATK/DEF:1500/1700)**

"But I won't leave my spearholder out, because I activate the spell card, Pactmaker's Contract!" The card lifted up from the field, the picture being of Leonard staring at his gauntlet. "This let's me bring out one Ark monster from my deck, and I choose Ark of Larvayne!" The red dragon came swirling out of her deck and danced around Caesar.

Ark of Larvayne **:(3 ATK/DEF:0/0)**

"And I believe you know the drill." And unlike before, Will didn't gloat, she didn't get the usual rush. It was gone, possibly forever without Kari. The small dragon curled around Caesar's waist like a belt and he slammed the buckle down with his hand. "Meet Lost Knight Larvayne.". The red knight swirled into existence next to its brother, giving a showy twirl of it's spear.

Lost Knight Larvayne **: (7 ATK/DEF:2200/2000)**

"And I activate his ability, which allows me to banish the top card on my deck to give him piercing damage." Larvayne's spear glowed when a light from her deck went into it. "Now run his monsters through!" She pointed to the facedown monster, needle worm.

Pulling its arm far back, Larvayne hurled its spear at one of underling's face down monsters- specifically his Needle Worm.

"Not so fast! You forgot about my face down cards!" Underling intervened activating one of his two trap cards. "I activate Scrap-Iron Scarecrow and negate your monster's attack!"

Appearing in front of the Knight's target, a scarecrow made literally of scrap took the blow and deflecting the spear.

"And the best part about this card is that it can be set again after use!" Underling smirked as the vermilion knight caught its spear.

"Not when I still have a monster." Will stated coldly as Wizel finished what Larvayne did not.

This time, underling allowed the attack to go through cutting the face down Needle Worm's card clean in two. Appearing above the card, the insect monster was also in two pieces before it burst into pixels. but not before firing a spike at Will's deck.

"Because Needle Worm was flipped due to battle, you lose five more cards!" Underling declared.

"Wait, why did he let Will destroy his monster this time?" Leo asked as the group watched the battle unfold. He had seen Yusei use that card before in several duels.

"Scrap-Iron Scarecrow can only be used once per turn. It was probably there in case Will had a monster with piercing damage like that Knight of hers." Blister explained for Leo having seen a few mill decks in his time.

Were it not for the piercing effect, Blister would have put good money on underling allowing the attack to go through as the piercing damage would have been more deadly than the monsters effect.

"Hang on! You mean he's focusing on making Will empty her deck?" Leo asked looking confused.

"There's more than one way to win a duel, kid. No more life points, no more deck, that's just the two most common ways of winning." Blister told the greenette.

"I end." This wasn't good, she had to make her next turn count or this guy would clean her out...

"And I begin." Underling grinned drawing a card. "I activate the magic card The Shallow Grave allowing us both to take one monster from our graveyards and set them on the field. For me, I believe I'll be bringing back an old friend who love being the center of attention!"

"Needle Worm again!?" Leo exclaimed in disbelief.

"It's a mill deck key card. Just three of them without support spells and traps can cut an average deck in half." Seria explained.

"What's a key card?" Leo asked a picture of a card shaped like a key appearing in his mind.

"It's like your Power Tool Dragon Leo, it's the center of your deck." Luna tried to explain to her brother in terms he would understand.

"Then I'll bring back Command Knight." Will set the card onto her field with a flash of light.

"On the subject of bringing things back, I flip summon Hiro's Shadow Scout! This let's you add three cards to your hand- just be sure to send any spell cards drawn with this effect to the graveyard." Underling added as a blue monster materialised in front of him.

Hiro's Shadow Scout: **(2 ATK/DEF:650/500)**

Will drew three cards and sent one to the graveyard. Making a grand total of three cards in her hands.

"I'll set three cards, one monster and end my turn there!" Underling finished.

"Ha-ha! He's left his monster defenseless! Will, focus on his Shadow whatsit!" Leo called out to Will.

"Hiro's Shadow Scout." Luna sighed. She wished her brother paid more attention to their tutors about cards unrelated to Morphtronic monsters or his Power Tool Dragon.

"Oh I'll get to that Leo, but first off, I activate Pot of Avarice to return five monsters from my graveyard to my deck." A laughing pot appeared on her field and five lights went from her graveyard to her deck. "Then I draw two." The hand count was now five. "And I summon Ark of Adolmaea in attack mode!" A golden mask appeared on the field.

Ark of Adolmaea: **(4 ATK/DEF: 0/0)**

"And I use it's special effect to banish it and two monsters in my hand to synchro summon Lost Knight Adolmaea!" The gold mask and two cards in Will's hand burst into flames before it flew into the air. The ball of fire slammed into the ground and a golden knight stood up from it.

Lost Knight Adolmaea: **(10 ATK/DEF:3000/2700)**

"When he's summoned, I can draw cards equal to how many non tuners I used, plus two." She drew four cards. "And by banishing the two monster cards I got in this draw, I get to destroy two of your cards- and I choose your two face down monsters! Adolmaea! Wrath of the Sun King!" Two cards burst into fire before flying into Adolmaea's lance, making it burst into flames as he charged at the two face down monsters.

"What the-?!" Underling exclaimed as his two set monsters suddenly went up in smoke literally leaving an unpleasant stench in the air.

"And now I activate Different dimension reincarnation, I discard one card and pick Mage of the Ancient Arts to summon." A card flipped up, a vortex appeared from it and Alastor stepped from it with a bored look. Vaguely surprised when he spotted Will but he directed his attention back to the field after seeing the look on her face.

Mage of the Ancient Arts **: (5 ATK/DEF:1700/1500)**

"Let em have it boys! Wizel, you're first!" Wizel charged at the blue creature on the underling's side of the field.

"I play Book of Moon and use it to re-set Hiro's Shadow Scout!" Underling intervened activating the face down spell card on his field and making the blue monster disappear right before Wizel dissected it.

"Wait a minute. How can that guy activate a spell card on Will's turn?!" Leo asked in confusion.

"It's a quick play spell Leo, it lets you activate it any time if certain conditions are met." Luna sighed before fixating an exasperated look onto her brother. "Do you just not pay attention during our lessons?"

"I do too pay attention!" Leo protested while Hiro's Shadow Scout's effect came into play.

Will grumbled a bit as she drew cards...and put them in her graveyard with a curse as her monsters continued their assault.

"I activate my two face down cards! First: Limit Reverse allows me to revive Cyber Jar in my graveyard!" Underling explained as the metallic jar floated out of the trap card. "Then, Book of Moon flips it face down!"

"But that'll mean all of Will monsters will be destroyed when Cyber Jar gets tossed!" Leo exclaimed.

 _"Flipped_ , kid. Tossing is for coins." Blister corrected wondering how the orangette could beat the underling before losing all her deck.

"Al-er Mage of the Ancient arts, attack!" Will called, surprising the peanut gallery as the rest of the orangette's monsters charged at the face down cards.

While underling would have preferred getting his face down Warm orm destroyed first, it didn't stop him from grinning as Mage of the Ancient Arts smashed Cyber Jar like a porcelain counterpart.

"You just made another costly mistake: when Cyber Jar gets destroyed, it takes all monsters on the field with it!" Underling explained as a green light exploded from the damaged Cyber Jar destroying all monsters both duelist controlled.

Even outside the ring, everyone was surprised by the shock wave produced from the blast.

"Incredible...is this the power that took out Sayer?" Seria pondered not noticing Akiza twitch at the mention of the man's name.

"Looks like you got a reprieve. I can only set one monster: Warm Worm." Underling told Will as he drew five new cards.

"Likewise. I can only summon Ranger of the Ancient Night." The Archer appeared on the field as Will shuffled her deck.

Ranger of the Ancient night: **(4 ATK/DEF:1000/1400)**

"But she won't be lonely for long. I activate my Pale Moonlight trap card!" A moon appeared and shined it's light on Will's side of the field. "This allows me to bring back any Ancient or Lost Knight monsters that were destroyed this turn so come on back: Wizel, Larvayne, Adolmaea and Mage of the Ancient Arts!"

Red, silver, blue, and gold lights flew out of her graveyard and slammed down in the spaces next to Yulie dwindling to reveal Will's aforementioned monsters, making the underling stare with wide eyes.

" _Well at least you got your head out of your ass_." Yulie quipped with a raised eyebrow at the gawking underling.

"Shut it. There are children around you know." Will snapped while Luna was the only one who giggled at the two as Yulie stuck her tongue out in response.

"Who's Will talking to?" Leo asked having not heard Yulie speak along with the other grown ups. "And why are you laughing?"

"N-no reason." Luna coughed to try and regain her composure. "Maybe I'll tell you one day." She couldn't help but giggle again at his childish pout before she reigned it in.

"And I end my turn, oh and before I forget, when Ranger of the Ancient night is on the field with my mage, they both get a 500 point bonus." Will remarked offhandedly. Alastor slammed his staff into the ground, a magic seal appearing under them both.

Ranger of the Ancient night: **(4 ATK/DEF:1000/1500-1500/2000)**

Mage of the Ancient arts: **(5 ATK/DEF:1700/1000-2200/1500)**

"My turn..." Underling growled as he drew another card.

He had not expected the _non_ -Signer to have regained field control so easily but that did not mean she was going to win. By his estimate, Will had around a quarter of her deck left whereas he had at least twenty cards in his and a full life point meter. All he needed to do was keep her monsters from hitting him while hitting her back with his own cards.

"I'll set one monster and four cards face down!" Underling finally spoke as he set one card in his decks monster zone and almost all of his hand in the spell/trap zone. 'It'll be your last turn! No matter which monster you use, Morphing Jar #2 will send your monsters back to your deck!'

"I activate United We Stand and equip it to Ranger of the Ancient Night." Will stated after she drew her card. Yulie bumped shoulders with Alastor as red electricity sparked over her frame becoming brighter as the charge spread to connect with the rest of Will's monsters. "It allows her to gain 800 points for each monster I have on my side of the field."

Ranger of the ancient night: **(3 ATK/DEF:1500/2000-5500/6000)**

"Now attack." The orangette stated coldly as Yulie drew back her arrow and let it fly.

'What an idiot!' Underling scoffed as he watched the attack fly towards his face down monster.

He was not the only person to think that.

"Is Will _crazy_? She's boosted her weakest monsters attack and defense points and using it to attack first instead of using another monster to get rid of that face down monster!" Leo stated loudly much to everyone else's displeasure especially his sister's.

"Yu-er Ranger of the Ancient knight can attack directly when she's with other ancient or lost knights." Luna stated evenly as she rubbed her aching ears. Remembering what the Ancient monsters had told her about themselves while in the spirit world…

"So...wait...you're saying that that monster can avoid monsters and attack directly?!" Leo asked in disbelief.

"Say what?!" Underling exclaimed in shock overhearing the over loud greenette. If that was true then- "I activ-!"

Too late, by the time his hand had gotten to the button that would activate his Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, the arrow had already reached him. Fortunately, his disk too the brunt of the attack leaving him almost fine asides the disk blowing up and sending him crashing into the fire wall before it dwindled.

 _ **Underling:4000-0**_

"Alright! She won!" Leo cheered so exuberantly that everyone jumped a mile in fright.

"Leo…" Luna sighed once again.

She could never understand how he could become so excitable so easily even despite the seriousness of the situation. Were she not worried about her friends, she would probably be feeling jealous of that... _quirk_ of his.

"A little too early to celebrate, kid." Blister admonished indicating the defeated underling who was shakily getting to his feet while Will stomped round the landing chasm towards him.

"Wh-what happened to me?" Underling groaned as he clutched his sore arm as he looked around as if only just realising where he was.

"I just beat you. That's what happened." Will replied as she walked up to the underling who backed away from her looking frightened by the look of things. "Now start talking before you get beaten!"

"H-Hey wait a minute! I don't understand what you're talking about!" Underling tried to explain as Will grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him into the wall.

"I'm not in the mood for theatrics, pal!" Will spat as the others watched on in shock at what was happening. "Now, tell me who you're working for and where I can find them or it's over the rail!"

The underling was really panicking now. All he remembered was heading out to Bootlegs and finding someone at the street corner spewing something about the fate of New Domino and Satellite then blacking out. The next thing he knew, he was waking up in some abandoned building with his arm in extreme pain and some orangette looking to kill him for something he had apparently done.

"I-I-I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Underling cried out.

"Wrong answer." Will said before throwing the poor amnesiac man over the rail to plummet three floors to the ground below.

The moment his feet had left the ground, the underling was already screaming before passing the rail and screamed as he passed by floor after floor. Only once he had screamed his lungs empty and breathed in did he realise he had yet to hit the ground.

"Huh?" Blinking at the sight of the ground just stopped there in front of him, the former underling looked round to see the champion of the Fortune Cup and Daimon's residential monster.

"You don't know anything, do you?" Yusei asked receiving a furious shake of the head in reply. "Let him go, Mido."

Grunting, Mido mentally ordered the squatting ten foot mech to let go of the underling's jacket allowing the scared stiff man to plummet the last foot to the ground.

Back on his own two feet, the underling wasted no time in getting as far away from them before something else bad happened to him, like meeting the Black Rose Witch and becoming plant food for her dragon.

Watching the guy run off, Yusei glanced upwards to catch sight of Will staring down at them before she disappeared back to her room leaving him to be greeted by a worried pair of twins as they finished running down the stairs towards him.

"Yusei! Are you alright?! Did you get hurt in your duel also like Will did?! Did you win?!" Leo rapid fired at the champion already a bundle of unrestrained energy now that the crisis had passed.

Seeing as her brother was taking up Yusei's attention, like always, Luna figured she might as well attempt talking to Mido. He did just put his neck on the line for them so the least one of them could do was thank him.

"Um...Glad you're okay…" She said to the taciturn teen wincing at how awkward that sounded to herself let alone to Mido. Why did most of her conversations with him have to begin with a single, unintelligent syllable?

"Whatever." Mido grunted as he walked passed her and started up the staircase.

Luna's shoulders slumped as she watched him walk off. So much for being friends helping her get to know him better. Seeing as things seemed to be going backwards with the taciturn teen, pink clad greenette was about to join Leo in pestering Yusei, not literally, when she heard it. The voice of a card calling out to her from outside…

* * *

"Damn that _stings_!" Mido cursed under his breath as he made his way towards his room trying to ignore the burning sensation in his arms and torso.

It was bad enough that his duel disk, one of the last remaining mementos he had of his grandfather, was now in a thousand pieces outside his dwelling but there was also the possibility that his deck had been damaged also either from the fireballs during the duel or when the underling apparently 'woke up' and tried to clock him one with a lead pipe and wanted to check to see if any of the cards had been damaged in any way or form- despite wanting to grab an ice cold shower and cool off literally.

"Mido!"

Hearing his name being called out, Mido turned round to see Luna running towards him with something clutched carefully in her hands.

"What is-" Mido began to ask as Luna stopped in front of him only to stop mid-question as the girl held out his Strike Freedom Gundam card.

"I heard it call out for you. It sounded like it was worried for you so I figured I should get it back to you quickly." Luna explained in what sounded like one breath as she held out the card bowing her head making it look like she was giving Mido a peace offering of sorts.

While not much for words, Mido found himself lost for words at the girl's kindness and for him of all people the most unsocial butterfly this side of New Domino.

"Why?" Mido asked as he took his card glad to see it was in good condition unlike himself.

"Because we're friends!" Luna answered honestly with a real smile to go with it before looking worriedly at the teen's burns. "You should really get those injuries seen to. If you want, I could check to see if your deck's alright while Ms Seria treats you?"

Mido could only stare at the girl in disbelief. Either she had a screw loose just like her loudmouthed brother or, and this was the surprising part to Mido, she actually wanted to be friends with him.

"...Sure." Mido eventually replied as he added the card to his deck then held out said deck for her to take. "And...thanks."

Graciously taking the offered deck, Luna's only response was to smile brightly as she fell in step beside Mido as the two made their way back to Seria's clinic figuring she would earn his trust more if she checked the cards under his supervision. As the saying went, slow and steady wins the race. And she really wanted to win this one.

* * *

 **Grey: Alright, who's with me in their hate of Mill decks?**

 **Free: Aye. But it is still a stra-**

 **Grey: Nopeeee! It's evil and terrible and deserves to die. By the way, you still have to apologize to Luna.**

 **Free: I'll get to it...**

 **Grey: Leo will keep glaring at you if you don't.**

 **Leo:...(Glare)**

 **Free:...**

 **Leo:...**

 **Free: (Sigh) Fine fine. I'm going.**

 **Leo: Good! Nobody makes my sister cry but me!  
**

* * *

 _ **Original Cards…**_

* * *

Pale Moonlight

Trap/Normal

Activate during 2nd main phase (yours or opponents). Special Summon any Lost Knight or Ancient monsters destroyed in battle this turn.


	21. Calm and Green envy!

**Luna:...**

 **Free:...**

 **Grey: Dude, just say it.**

 **Free:...I'm sorry for Grey being a thorn in my psyche.**

 **Grey: That's not an apology! That's more of insulting me and not enough heartfelt sadness!**

 **Luna: A-actually, I'm good with that. (Giggling)**

 **Free: See? Heartfelt and insulting. It's how I apologize. Care to do the disclaimer Luna?**

 **Luna: Sure. Forever Free Evergreen and Greywing44 do not own Yugioh. Just the words below**.

* * *

It was the next day, the sun was shining bright in the sky and glinted off a pristine black limo that was carrying three passengers. The driver, the senator, and his wife. They would really be out of place in this neighborhood, it was run down, full of gangs and the homeless with nowhere to go. But their eyes weren't set on their surroundings, rather the one person they cared about more than anything in the world. They would brave any risk in order to right their wrongs...

"T...that woman on the phone said she was in a coma, a _coma_!" The redheaded woman nearly lost her composure as her husband's arms went around her.

"It's going to be alright, she'll wake up." The senator shushed her worries as he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "She's our daughter...she's stronger than the both of us combined."

"But what if she doesn't _want_ to see us?!" The woman urged. She could still remember that day when they sent her off to New Domino Duel Academy. Her daughter's eyes showing nothing but sadness and insecurity about being abandoned by the two people she needed the most unwittingly sparking the hatred that soon earned her her nickname the Black Rose.

"I'm well aware of that possibility." Her husband replied well aware of how their daughter might greet them.

Still, so long as he saw his little girl's eyes open and return to the world of the living, he would gladly welcome whatever repercussions came his way for not being there for her when she needed him the most.

* * *

"Okay! Here. I. Go!" Leo declared as he drew his next card all smiles as he recognised it. "Awesome! I summon Morphtronic Boarden in attack mode!"

With an over exuberant flourish, the greenette slapped the card featuring a robot that looked like it could transform into a skateboard onto the table beside three more cards featuring transformer-like monsters: a yellow cellphone in attack mode and two magnets in defense mode.

 _ **Leo:2400**_

Morphtronic Boarden: **(3 ATK/DEF:500/1800)**

Morphtronic Celfon: **(1 ATK/DEF:100/100** )

Morphtronic Magnen (x2): **(3 ATK/DEF:800/800)**

Facedowns: none

Why were they playing Duel Monsters the old fashioned way? Well his opponent currently had no duel disk save the one that got destroyed yesterday and Leo was too impatient to duel Mido into the ground to wait for the taciturn teen to get a replacement disk- despite Yusei and his sister offering to loan their disks for the battle.

At the other end of the table the duelists were using as their battlefield, Mido watched on in boredom as his opponent went on and on like this was some sort of show duel. Could he not just get on with it like this was an actual duel?

 _ **Mido:3100**_

Zeta Gundam: **(4 ATK/DEF:1000/1800** )

Duel Gundam: **(4 ATK/DEF:1650/1350)**

Facedowns: 1 spell/trap card.

As the two duelists _'squared off_ ' as it were, their audience, consisting of Luna, Bolt and Yanagi, watched on with different measures of excitement.

Yanagi seemed to be the only one vocally cheering Leo on whether just to liven up the atmosphere or to boost Leo's confidence, which needed no assistance at the moment whereas Bolt kept quiet wanting to see how the duel panned out between what appeared to be _'sworn rivals_ ' according to the male greenette. Luna was quiet also but more because she was having a sense of deja vu- which was true as she had seen her brother use this similar strategy in his duel against Yusei. She was also cheering for Mido but kept quiet because, not only would it tick off her brother to no end, she knew the taciturn teen would not like it also although not in the same way as Leo would dislike it.

"And before I go any further, I activate Morphtronic Celfon's ability!" Leo continued holding up a blue six-sided die. "With a role of this dice, I get to draw as many cards as the number on the dice and can summon a Morphtronic monster from them. Ready? And roll!"

Swinging his arm around as if winding up to throw a punch, Leo launched the die with such force it bounced off the table and caused Mido to lean to the side to avoid swallowing it.

"And the number is…" Leo drum rolled as he ran up to where the die had landed. "FIVE!"

 _'Does he have to be so loud_?' Mido thought in annoyance as his opponent ran back to his end of the table to draw five cards and see if he had any Morphtronics he could use.

As if sensing what he was thinking, Luna replied with a single nod of her head and even mouthed _'sorry'_ to him when their eyes briefly met.

"Alright, this is awesome!" Leo cheered shuffling four cards back into his deck then slapping down a monster card featuring a robot that could transform into what looked like a boombox in attack mode. "Here comes Morphtronic Boomboxen!"

Morphtronic Boomboxen: ( **4 ATK/DEF:1200/400)**

"And now for the effects of my Morphtronics: when in attack mode, Boomboxen can attack twice per turn and Boarden can allow my monsters to attack you directly. Which means you're about to receive…" Leo stopped mid-gloat as he quickly tried to add up the total attack points of all his monsters sans his two Morphtronic Magnens- he had battled Mido enough times to know the taciturn teen would not just let him win. "Let's see...Morphtronic Boarden's got five hundred...and Boomboxen's got one thousand twelve hundred but can go twice so that's…"

"Two thousand nine hundred attack points- _three_ thousand if you include Morphtronic Celfon." Luna supplied for her brother knowing full well that maths was not his strong suit.

"Luna!" Leo moaned in frustration. He absolutely hated it when his sister finished what he started- when it came to duels at least... homework, chores and anything else he did not mind.

"Hey, Loudmouth. You fighting me or Pinky?" Mido called out to the greenette his patience running thin with the boy.

"Fine!" Leo shouted ignoring his sister and pointing a finger at Mido. "I attack you with Morphtronic Boomboxen, Morphtronic Boarden and Morphtronic Boomboxen!"

 _'Did he really have to say that_?' Luna mentally sighed as she let her head drop in embarrassment.

"I counter with Dragoon System." Mido replied calmly to Leo's declaration flipping over his face down trap card showing Strike Freedom Gundam with its blue fins flying about and firing at unseen enemies. "Not only does this force you to end your battle phase, I get to special summon Strike Freedom Gundam without the summon cost."

Strike Freedom Gundam: **(8 ATK/DEF:3000/2500)**

Leo could only glare daggers at Mido as the teen placed the violet framed card onto the field next to his other monsters. Still, his defense position Morphtronic Magnens prevented Mido from counter attacking next turn so he could just launch a full-out attack during his next turn.

"Fine. I'll end my turn and let you sweat what you can do with your last turn." Leo said as he sat down with a confident smile on his face.

 _'Finally!'_ Mido thought as he drew a card. That last turn felt like it had lasted an eternity. "I tribute all my monsters to bring out ZZ Gundam in attack mode."

ZZ Gundam: **(8 ATK/DEF:2800/3000)**

"And what good's that card gonna do for you?" Leo challenged as he watched Mido transfer all three Gundam cards on the field to the graveyard and put down a monster card featuring a bulky blue and white mech.

"Plenty: by using three tributes, ZZ Gundam destroys all monsters you control when summoned." Mido explained. "And since you only have twenty four hundred life points, I win when ZZ attacks you directly."

Staring at the taciturn teen wide eyed, Leo snatched up the Gundam card and read its effect himself.

 _ **Leo:2400-0**_

"NOOOOOOO!" He cried out upset and angry at losing to Mido once again while clutching his head as if suddenly getting brain freeze.

* * *

"Sounds like Leo lost again." Blister commented lightly occasionally looking up from the homemade signal jammer he was working on to check on Seria and her patient still sleeping peacefully in the gurney. "That's the third duel now. Is he ever gonna give up?"

"He won't." Seria replied the corners of her mouth twitching as she thought of the near _infinite_ energy that male greenette seemed to conceal within.

"That desperate to get his sister back, huh?" Blister asked putting down his jammer as their conversation began to build steam.

After the fiasco yesterday, the atmosphere between the two seemed to have mellowed out somewhat allowing for sporadic conversations to pop up from time to time when the mood struck.

"I think he sees Mido more as a rival. Sort of like Yusei and Jack." Seria speculated looking back on the two boys' past.

She had pretty much watched _every_ duel the two boys had against one another back in the Arcadia Movement building and could remember each and every scream the greenette made when he got shocked due to that horrific apparatus Sayer had them hooked up to like all those other kids before them. The only thing that been worse than the screams had been those smiles Sayer wore when he heard Leo's screams.

She was sure he was doing this to them just to hear the screams rather than to coax out any psychic powers they claimed to have- perhaps they were soothing to the mind, but to Seria, she found it amazing that she could ever get any sleep at night without seeing their faces distorted in pain or hearing their pleas for help.

"You okay?" Blister called out to Seria when she suddenly started to stare off into space.

"Oh!- My apologies." Seria muttered wiping at her eyes. "It's just…"

"Was it really that bad there?" Blister asked softly he knew it was wrong to pry but sometimes it was better just to talk about it and get it over with.

"Depends on the day." Seria managed to chuckle. "Perhaps, once this is all behind us, I'll tell you about it."

"Hey, I'm not saying you have to tell me about what happened. Just saying you should get it all off your shoulders before it comes back to bite you or something like it did Sayer." Blister was quick to say as he got back to his gadget.

He might be starting to like the woman, but he was no psychiatrist and doubted he could do much more than nod his head as she confessed to all she had witnessed and aided within the Arcadia Movement walls. No, he reckoned she needed the help of a proper shrink if she ever wanted to get a peaceful night's sleep.

Smiling gratefully at the information broker as he pretended to busy himself before casting a nervous glance at her watch.

They would soon be arriving. She just hoped that they wouldn't do anything foolish like cause a scene or, worse case scenario, pissed off Midorikawa into kicking them all out of his building as she doubted there was another place like this outside of an actual hospital that would take in Miss Akiza given everyone now knew who she was thanks to the Fortune Cup fiasco.

Seria suddenly inhaled sharply as she suddenly realised she had missed a crucial detail of the upcoming meet.

"What's wrong? Are the Dark Signers back?!" Blister asked hearing the sharp intake and assuming the worst.

"N-No. Do you remember yesterday, once everything settled down, that I called Akiza's parents?" Seria asked nervously.

"Yeeeaaah…?" Blister replied slowly not sure where things were going with this. "You said they would be coming round later today. Did you forget to tell them how to get here?"

"Oh, they should be able to find this place with the directions I gave them, but I forgot to mention to Mr Midorikawa that they would be paying their daughter a visit." Seria explained worriedly.

The jammer Blister had been working on was quickly forgotten about as the information broker strode out of the clinic in search of the taciturn teen to inform him that they would be having company. As much as he wanted to see how Mido would handle the parents of a fellow psychic they had abandoned, it would be better if they were welcomed by people rather than mech-monsters.

* * *

Will clicked her tongue in distaste as she looked over herself in the mirror.

While glad to finally be free of that bathrobe Arcadia Movement called a uniform, she wondered if that information broker Yusei was friends with actually put any effort into finding some clothes for herself and Seria or just grabbed the first bag of clothes left in front of a donation bin. Not that she minded the dark brown jacket and matching boots coupled with the tight black jeans reminding her of her Enforcer get up but with a more modern twist, but the only top that fit her comfortably enough was a ludicrously luminous orange that reminded her of Satellite and of what she had lost.

" _Nice! If I didn't already have Kara, I'd ask you out on a date the first chance I got_."

Will blinked several times in confusion as she looked around for the spirit of Spearholder of the Ancient Lands. That was definitely his voice she just heard, but she could not see him anywhere unless he was invisible. If he had been here all this time while she had been changing…

"Caesar, you better not have been here long!" Will growled turning back to the mirror only to jump backwards when she saw Caesar standing in place of her reflection.

" _Yo_!" He greeted her with a friendly wave. " _Yulie told me how volatile you might be so I figured the old 'mirror, mirror, on the wall' would be safer for the both of us_."

"And you're here _because_?" Will grunted turning her back on the mirror and the spirit encased within. She was not in the mood for more of this Spirit World connection crap even if this spirit looked to be more of a peeping pervert than a nosey nuisance.

" _Because you're not yourself. The last turn of that duel you had yesterday, a little extreme, don't you think?"_ Caesar pointed out dropping his cheerful nature.

"Considering the alternative outcome was to lose and probably die and leave the fate of your world to a pre-teen, I think I made the right choice." Will replied heatedly.

 _"Maybe. But tossing the guy over the rail was overkill."_ Caesar returned.

"Welcome to the Real World, Caesar. If you wanna survive, you're gonna hafta get your hands dirty." Wil said turning to glare at the mirror. "Now, piss off! I'm in no mood for a Spirit shrink!"

"Will?"

"And I don't want a human shrink either!" Will snapped rounding on Yusei who poked his head into Will's room when he heard her speaking to someone that he could not see. "What do _you_ want?!"

Yusei put up his hands in a placating gesture. After hearing from the Leo what had happened yesterday as he and Mido came back after their duels- no, _Shadow_ Duels, he had been trying to keep a better watch on his old friend. Not an easy task when the bridge between them was pretty much burned since he had failed to protect Kari in Will's absence coupled with the fate of Satellite riding on his shoulders along with worrying over whether or not Akiza would help them after all that had happened to her.

"To see who you're talking to." Yusei replied looking around to only to see an empty room sans the two of them.

"I'm talking to-" Will pointed to the mirror only to see her own reflection pointing back at her. "...Never mind. You wouldn't understand."

"Will…" Yusei tried to call out to his friend when she turned her back on him.

"Save it, Yusei.I don't wanna talk to someone who abandons a little girl to a bunch of thugs!" Will snapped in a low voice.

In the mirror's reflection, she felt a grim sense of satisfaction as Yusei winced as if getting stabbed in the gut.

Knowing that he was not going to get any further with Will, Yusei wisely left the room to give Will her privacy. Only once the door was closed and he was further down the hallway did he finally slump against the wall as the memory of that day washed over him once again.

He had just succeeded in finding a pair of suitable tyres for the, at the time, latest duel runner he had been building when Crow showed up explaining that Will and Kari had gotten into a small scuffle and that Kari had ran off.

No sooner had he and Crow started searching for the younger sibling, along with Jack the moment word reached him, their own turf was swarmed by a legion of former duel gangs that had banded together to get back at the Enforcers once word had spread that they had split up. Fearing they would go after Kari first, Yusei pulled out all the stops, along with Crow and Jack, to find the young blonde before them only for those fears to become a reality.

Even to this day, Yusei could still hear Kari's pleas for Will ring loudly in his ears unaware, along with the rest of them, that Will was already halfway to New Domino city with Sayer.

"Come on! One more duel!"

Jumping at the sound of Leo's voice approaching him, Yusei whipped round to see Mido coming up the stairs followed closely by the male greenette. It did not take Yusei much to realise Leo was trying to get Mido to duel him again.

"Not interested." Mido replied as he kept on walking hoping the greenette would take the hint and leave him alone.

"Leo, haven't you had enough yet?" Luna asked as she caught up to the two. "Mido beat you three times already- without cheating also like you've been accusing."

Leo grit his teeth in frustration. After that last duel, he was sure that he could beat Mido this time and Mido probably knew that hence why he was trying to get away from him. Unfortunately, even Luna seemed to be against him dueling the taciturn teen again. Did she not realise he was doing this for her safety?

Suddenly spotting Yusei, who had been silently watching how things were panning out, Leo quickly ran over to the Signer and Champion in the hopes he would be on his team seeing as his sister was once again against him.

"Why don't you take a rest from dueling to come up with some new strategies to use against tomorrow, Leo?" Yusei suggested before the greenette could accuse Mido of turning his back on their agreed duel.

"Nuh-uh! If I waste time doing that, he'll probably doing the same!" Leo argued pointing a finger at Mido who had actually stopped to see if the greenette would actually, and finally, quit hounding him for the day.

"So now you use your brain!" Luna sighed before fixing her brother with a stern look. "Why can't you use it to realise you're just going to get beaten again?"

"Why can't you cheer for me instead of that guy? I've been there for you more times than he has so why are you being friendly with him and not me?" Leo threw back.

"Because he doesn't gloat, brag or ask for anything in return! And what's wrong with being friends with him?"

As the twins got into a heated argument with each other, Mido had walked off without either of them realising it.

It was moments like this that he wished that that damn witch woke up already so that the Arcadian doctor could give her a clean bill of health and they could leave his home. Still, he had to admit that Loudmouth was improving. That last duel had been the closest the greenette had to beating him- not that he would ever tell the loudmouthed brat that.

 _'Intruder! Intruder!'_

Hearing the synthesised voice coming from behind him, Mido turned round to see a metal blue sphere as big as a basketball flying through the air towards him. Instead of panicking like the two greenettes as the metal ball floated past them, the taciturn teen merely held out his hand for the ball to land in.

 _'Vehicle approaching! Vehicle approaching!_ ' The ball said sounding like some sort of animated alarm clock.

' _A vehicle?_ ' Mido thought in confusion. That was strange and suspicious given Diamon area was ignored even by Sector Security in fear of their runners being stripped for parts the moment they entered the area.

As the taciturn teen pondered who could possibly be stupid enough to drive into a rundown area towards his home, the twins had caught up to him along with Yusei the former pair staring curiously at the robot-ball-thing.

"What's happening?" Yusei asked in concern.

"What is that?" The twins asked in perfect synch the same time as Yusei.

"We're getting some more company. Whether they're the same as those three from yesterday, I've no idea." Mido replied to Yusei whilst chucking the ball at Leo who yelped in fright as he instinctively tried to catch it only for the mini-mech to float right through him.

"It-He-But-You _-How!_ " Leo exclaimed pointing from the ball to Mido to the window the ball just flew out of then back to Mido while his sister did her best not to giggle at her flabbergasted sibling.

"He's a psychic, Leo. He probably uses them to keep a watch over his turf like an early warning system." Yusei supplied for the boy. At least that explained how Mido knew how the Dark Signer underlings were coming..

"But-But-But...He doesn't have a duel disk." Leo pointed out.

Mido replied to this by pulling a set of four cards out of his pocket, each containing the same monster, a ball-like robot just like the one they just saw, but a different color including the blue one. Apparently psychics could make monsters real with or without a disk although the strain was probably greater without the duel disk acting as some sort of medium for them.

But this was not the time to be speculating about psychic duelists and their abilities.

Right now, there was a vehicle approaching their location and Yusei could not help but wonder if those inside the vehicle were from Goodwin rather than the Dark Signers. Either way, only himself and Will could duel right now albeit he was still a bit sore from yesterday's Shadow Duel whereas Mido was not only still recovering from his Shadow Duel but also lacked an actual disk and doubted he would take one of the twins' even if Luna willingly offered the taciturn teen hers.

"Mido! Where the heck are you, you sonuva-Hey, there you are!" Blister exclaimed as he spotted the group from the opposite end of the hall. "That's great! That means you haven't gone out yet."

"You know something about our latest group of guests?" Mido inquired narrowing his gaze at the information broker.

"Uh...Yeah. That doc from Arcadia Movement made a call yesterday to Akiza's parents...and they're on their way here as we speak." Blister finished in a small voice as Mido's glare intensified.

"And you're only telling me this now?" Mido growled.

Everyone could tell by his tone of voice that he was angry for not being told about this beforehand and for going ahead without his say-so as this was _his_ territory they were intruding upon. He had allowed Blister, Bolt and Yanagi to come in as Yusei had talked to him pointing out that the twins would need some personal things of their own plus they needed to find out what was happening in the rest of New Domino in the aftermath of what happened to Arcadia Movement.

Not only that but, what were to happen if Akiza woke up while her parents were here? All of them knew to some extent that Akiza hated her parents for abandoning her. To see them again after all that has happened to her, who knows what would happen only that it would be unpleasant to say the least.

 _'They're here! They're here!'_ The blue ball reported as it floated in through the nearest open window along with the sounds of an approaching car.

Glancing at the ball the to the window, Mido settled his burning glare back on Blister who started to sweat the longer the taciturn teen stayed silent. Finally, Mido dropped the glare and walked through the group towards his quarters.

"Better go tell the doc her guests are here. Just remember one thing." Mido turned round to glare at all of them even the twins. "This is _my_ territory your on. Do this again, and you're on your own. Got it?"

Without waiting for a reply, Mido walked off although stormed off would probably be a better term for it.

"Pheh! So what? Can't stop us from doing what we want." Leo scoffed crossing his arms. "Hey, where are you going, Luna?"

Stopping when her brother called out to her, Luna looked round to glare at Leo- actually, it looked like she was glaring at all of them.

"I'm going to apologise. Mido trusted us to behave and not bring him any trouble and we broke it." She told him before turning her back on Leo and following after Mido knowing just where he would be...hopefully.

"Oh, come on! We won't be seeing that jerk again soon so why bother being friendly with him?!" Leo shouted after his sister.

Because it was the right thing to do. At least, that was what Yusei thought. Like Luna had said, Mido had trusted them to not to bring any unwanted attention to his home while they were under his roof and going behind his back, even if it was not intentional, had been a breach of that trust putting them all in Mido's bad books if the taciturn teen's last words were to be believed.

"So...what's the plan, Yusei?" Blister asked the Signer.

Yusei took a moment to think things over. He would much prefer to have Will and Mido with him when he went to see Akiza's parents, the former because she had a closer bond to Akiza than he did whereas the latter was a fellow psychic who could probably give them help on how to help their daughter but with the way they were now…

"Go get Seria and tell her to meet me in the foyer." Yusei told the broker. He had to take care of the bond between Akiza, her parents and her fellow Signers now and work on reforging the bond he had with Will afterwards leaving Luna to deal with repairing the bridge between Mido and them.

In all honesty, Yusei did not know who had the harder task ahead of them.

* * *

 **Grey: What, no duels?**

 **Luna: There was...kinda one duel. Think of it as build up for what might happen next chapter.**

 **Free: Which will take longer to upload than the last few. My holiday time's up, Grey's going back to college & you, little miss…**

 **(Luna looks at Free with big round eyes)**

 **Free: … Grey, tell her.**

 **Grey: We'll make sure to let you know when we're coming back. (pats Luna on the head)**


	22. Tremors and Painful Memory!

**Free: You don't really have classes every day of the week...do you?**

 **Grey: Oh yes I do Free, every day, bright an early at 6...am.**

 **Free: Said it before and I'll say it again...ouch.**

 **Leo: Uhh...We do that every day of the week too. And we don't complain-**

 **Luna: More than what Leo does anyway.**

 **Leo: Hey!**

 **Free: Just enjoy your education while it's free...it _is_ free right?**

 **Grey: It's duel academy so...Uh...Me and Free don't own Yugioh! Just the words below!**

 **Leo: They're just ignoring it?**

 **Luna: Seems so.**

* * *

"Please, refresh my memory: Why can't my daughter be taken to a _real_ hospital." Hideo Hideo hissed as his wife squeaked at the sight of yet another rat in this crumbling apartment complex. The redhead clutched his arm in a mixture of fear and worry as they followed the former Arcadia movement member. As it was, this area was one of the worst in New Domino, rife with gangs and violence. He would not be surprised to find their car gone, or at least stripped of parts once they leave this rat infested ruin.

"Because there are...certain individuals who would wish to harm her in her weakened state." Seria answered carefully knowing full well that, to tell the two distraught parents about what exactly was after their daughter, would be liable to label her as a crazy nut.

"Oh god..." Seria winced a bit at the sound of Hideo's wife struggling to keep her emotions in. "What...what individuals?" Their daughter hadn't exactly worked up a good reputation since they set her to Duel Academy, which was such a horrible mistake. They should have helped her as much as they could but instead they sent her away like a bad memory.

"I can't say for certain Mrs. Izinski..." The lie made Seria ache but it had to be done. "Through here."

She grasped the door handle to the medical area and opened it. Mrs. Izinski gasped at the sight of Akiza, laying there in the bed with a pale pallor to her cheeks, the only comfort to the woman was that they at least had the proper equipment to sustain the poor, damaged girl.

"My baby, oh my little girl!" The flood gates had finally broken on the woman, the mother flew to the side of the daughter, kneeling down next to the bed and clutching the sleeping redhead tears rolling down her face as she struggled to keep breathing through the turmoil of emotion. "I'm so sorry...I'm so...so sorry..."

"Why...why isn't she waking up?" Hideo asked after he had finally managed to swallow the lump in his throat. She seemed fine upon looking at her at first glance.

"Physically she's fine...but due to the mental trauma sustained from an...unknown source has rendered her unable to wake up." Seria wasn't sure that mentioning Sayer's involvement would be the best course of action.

"My little rose...please wake up." Hideo clenched his jaw at that as he went over to his wife to comfort her. Seria watched the moment with sad eyes before she backed out of the room and shut the door behind her, deciding that the grieving family would be best left alone for now.

"...You can come out now, Miss Luna." Seria's eyes moved down the hall, after a moment of silence a familiar mint green head poked out timidly.

"I-I'm sorry for spying. I just..." Luna stuttered a bit as she fully came out of her hiding spot. "How did you know I was watching?" She thought she hid pretty well...

"All psychics have a sort of limited six sense." Seria smiled gently as she went over to the smaller girl. "...That and one of your pigtails were sticking out." Luna flushed as pink as her clothing as she held her hands over her pigtails in embarrassment.

"I just thought...there must be something we can do, we have at least three signers here now so..." Luna tried to explain her actions as she slowly put her hands back down.

"...Medical science _has_ reached its limit yes...but you may be onto something." Luna gained a bit of hope as the psychic doctor finally realized where she had failed...perhaps another could succeed.

Like Seria had said, Akiza was fine physically therefore her role as healer to the redhead was no longer necessary. What Akiza needed now was someone who could relate to what the poor girl had gone through, someone who had also someone who was important, crucial to their daily life, and maybe help both of them take that first step in healing the holes left by those they had respectively lost.

From a medical perspective and the accumulated knowledge Seria amassed from her time as that man's slave, she reckoned Will would be the most suitable choice, going from that outburst the other day, with Yusei Fudo being the next logical choice despite also being a Signer like Akiza. She even, for one crazy moment, considered Mr Midorikawa as a choice given he was a psychic and had suffered the loss of his last living relative too, albeit years ago now and had put up enough walls around his emotions to ward off Doomsday itself if his demeanor was anything to go by.

Sadly, this meant Luna would not be able help out like she had possibly hoped, the psychic doctor realised. The poor child clearly felt like she was being nothing more than a burden to everyone and was wanting to help out in any way that she could only to be brushed aside it seemed causing her already lack of self-confidence to plummet further.

* * *

"I'm...not a psychic, not even a Signer or whatever. What the hell do you expect me to do?" Was the first question out of Will's mouth as she kept glancing between nervous looking parents and a psychic doctor who she kind of owed. But even so, she was a duelist, not a doctor. And she had to work on her deck to be ready for whoever came after them next. She was certain she was missing a couple cards...

"I just want you to talk to her. That's it." Seria said calmly as the orangette paced back and forth in front of Akiza.

"That's it?" That made Will stop her pacing. "Look, you want emotional speeches, you get Yusei. I'm more of the lose your temper and be angry girl at this moment. Find someone else, I have things to do." But when she went to leave, her way was blocked by a desperate looking father. "Look, whatever your name is, I don't care if you're a senator-"

"I'm not asking you as a Senator, I'm asking you as a father who wants to make amends with his daughter." Will's face softened a bit at the emotions In the man's voice. "Who regrets _every_ action he's ever made."

"...Alright..." Unwanted memories of smiling faces floated up in her mind before she pushed them back down with a shake of her head. She then went over to Akiza's bedside and looked down at her, wondering what she would say...what she could say...

From the relative safety of the doorway, the twins and Blister watched on half wondering what the short tempered could do to help the comatosed redhead while the other half afraid of what might happen should Akiza actually wake up. Even Yusei had joined the trio evidently worried for Akiza but wanted to at least allow Will to give it a shot first- too many cooks spoiled the broth, as Martha would say.

Would she become a blubbering mass and cry her eyes out over the loss of a person no one else in the room had any fondness for? Would she just curl up into a ball and demand that they leave her alone to wallow in her self despair? Or would she take a leaf out of Will's book and just see red? The latter something everyone hoped to avoid.

"Hey, Aki...You gonna wake up anytime soon? We were supposed to be having a rematch after all...You know...seeing as our first battle kinda...ended before we could finish it ourselves…" Will said feeling stupid for talking to what was likely a vegetable. Why couldn't it be Yusei- heck, even _Mido_ for crying out loud- standing here talking to Akiza instead of her? She had never been good at this sort of thing unless it was for…

"ARGH! Dammit, Aki! If you're just lying there all Sleeping Beauty like in the hopes that that Pompa-dick Sayer will show up and take you back to that little fairy tale world you lived in, well you can forget it!" Will snapped slamming her hand down on the table next to the gurney. "He ain't some savior of psychics, he's just a scheming, power greedy, piece of slime using fancy words to amass anyone and everyone he could then resort to cowardly means for those who saw through him like Mido or kidnapping like what he did to the twins and use us all for his own twisted ideals!"

Hideo's wife gasped and nearly collapsed in shock of Will's words while Hideo himself could only let his jaw hang at the orangette's words. He had thought the man his little rose admired was trying to help her control her...gift. If what the orangette said was true, then that man- no, that piece of shit who had the nerve to use his daughter for his own needs- had better be among those who had mysteriously disappeared during that calamity the other night or heaven help him he would be torn limb from limb for poisoning his daughter with his lies!

As surprised as he was at the outburst, Yusei knew this was going to happen sooner or later. Will had never been able to keep things bottled up for long being more the type to say whatever she wanted whenever she wanted to whoever she wanted. Although, he wished she was yelling at him and not Akiza as it was his fault for not protecting Kari in the orangette's absence. That or at least using him as a punch bag.

Seria, while surprised at the sudden change in the orangette, was more shocked at the language she was using- there were _kids_ eavesdropping on them and making no attempt to hide themselves, for crying out loud!

" _Instead of screaming at the poor vegetable, why don't you let me take a shot?"_

Will bit her tongue to keep from saying anything as the ghostly form of Alastor appeared out of thin air. She wanted to ask exactly how a frikkin _ghost_ could get somebody out of a coma when they only twitched at what she was saying! But, besides Luna, only she could see him so she did not want to sound like a lunatic.

 _"Just watch_." The blue haired mage resisted rolling his eyes as he placed his hand on Akiza's forehead the appendage glowing blue as he applied what Will assumed to be healing magic to the redhead.

Everyone gasped this time when the redhead groaned and opened her eyes slowly. Wincing a bit at the light before she sat up with a hand to her spinning head. "W...where am I?"

" _Good luck with the resulting explosion master._" Will had to resist glaring at the sarcastic tone the spirit had as he faded away.

From the safety of the doorway, while Leo and Blister were staring in amazement at the miracle that just occurred, Luna was starting to get a bad feeling. She remembered what had happened to Yusei when he dueled her during the Fortune Cup and, after hearing the monster spirit's parting words, dread began to well up inside of her at what was going to happen next.

"A...Akiza?" Hideo's wife asked quietly trying not to disturb her daughter while trying not to breakdown herself.

Hearing her name spoken by a voice she had never wanted to hear again, Akiza turned to see the two people who had cast her off years ago.

"What are you doing here!? Why am I here?!" She demanded looking around at all the other faces in the room and not seeing the face she really wanted to see right now. "Where's Sayer?!"

Seria was suddenly starting to get anxious. From observations alone, she could tell Akiza was on the verge of breaking down much like what had happened during the Fortune Cup. And without that inhibitor Sayer normally had her wearing in her hair, everyone in the building was about to experience something akin to a Category 2 hurricane unless something was done to calm her down or at least distract her until the psychic doctor could administer something to prevent Akiza from becoming the Black Rose Witch once again.

"Pushing up daisies in what's left of his castle." Will replied not caring for Akiza's mental state. "And after all the shit he's pulled, he got off lightly if you ask me."

The silence following her words was deafening enough a pin dropping could sound like a thunderclap.

"What. Did. You. Say?!" Akiza demanded forgetting all about her parents as she focused solely on the accuser.

"You heard me just fine. That guy was nothing but a dirty sleaze using us- _you_ included- as soldiers in an army. We were all just slaves to that guy!" Will snapped meeting Akiza's angry glare with her own.

"You take that back!" Akiza ordered coldly getting off the gurney to stand unsteadily on her own two feet.

Noticing his daughter may collapse at any moment, Hideo rushed forward to support her.

"KEEP AWAY FROM ME!" Akiza yelled unleashing a pulse of psychic energy so powerful that everyone and everything not bolted to the floor was propelled into the walls of the room. Even the room itself buckled under pulse turning the floor, walls and even the ceiling unstable while Akiza stood unharmed in the blast's epicentre .

"Is it just me or is she more angry than when she battled you, Yusei?" Blister asked nervously staring at the doorway now partially blocked by the gurney.

He remembered the destruction and panic the redhead had wrought on the stadium- and that was at least ten times bigger than this building! If this was her well and truly _pissed_ , the information broker had a strong feeling Mido was going to be doing a lot of redecorating once they were gone.

Scratch that, the feeling of the floor about to give way at any moment suggested that this building was not going to be standing much longer.

"Everyone out!" Yusei shouted waving at Blister to get the twins out of the building while he started to kick down the gurney blocking the doorway so that everyone else in the room could escape.

Ignoring her friend, Will picked herself up and moved to stand across from Akiza who was somehow managing to stay standing despite the instability of the floor. Spotting the redhead's duel disk at her feet, the orangette picked it up and tossed it to its owner who caught it deftly in one hand.

"Will!" Yusei called out to her again.

"Just get the others out of here, Yusei!" Will shouted back to her friend without breaking eye contact with Akiza. "I'll deal with Aki's temper tantrum."

Memories of her own temper tantrum, and the solid blow Mido had landed her, had taught Will that sometimes, you just had to make people wake the _hard_ way. And it did not come any harder than duelling a pissed off, heartbroken psychic.

Knowing that there was no way to convince her otherwise once she was in that state of mind, Yusei turned his attention to Akiza's parents only to see that they too wished to stay despite Mrs Izinski looking like she wanted to be elsewhere. Even amidst all the chaos, Yusei could not help but feel slightly envious of Akiza and wonder, were he in her position, if his parents would do something as self-sacrificing as them.

"Just make sure you get them all out of here as quick as you can!" Yusei told Will before following after Seria once the doctor had managed to stumble passed him.

"...No promises…" Will grumbled recalling her last duel with Akiza. _'Her deck is really tricky, I can't charge in without a plan.'_

"To not run from me like all your friends. You must be brave or foolish." Akiza commented as he duel disk activated and she drew her hand.

"Wrong. I'm your friend- even if you are acting like a besotted bitch right now." "Will countered mimicking the redhead. "Now let's do this!-"

"Duel!"

 _ **Will: 4000**_

 _ **Akiza: 4000**_

Even with the building crumbling around them, Will kept her cool as she drew her first card.

"I set down one monster and two facedowns. That's it." She stated simply as the cards appeared on her field.

"My turn!" Akiza declared drawing her card and immediately summoning it. "I summon Lonefire Blossom in attack mode then sacrifice it to special summon Gigaplant from my deck using its ability!"

Briefly appearing on the field, the small, fire orange plant glowed bright red before growing into a giant behemoth of a plant monster that caused the floor around it to crack and split under its weight alone due to Akiza's out of control powers.

Lonefire Blossom **(3 ATK/DEF:500/1400)**

Gigaplant **(6 ATK/DEF:2400/1200)**

"Now, destroy her facedown monster!" Akiza ordered to enraged to realise, should the blow land, the very floor itself would likely collapse.

"I activate my trap card, Argent Shield!" Will ordered quickly as a huge shield with a strange symbol on the front rose up in front of them. "I can either equip it to one of my monsters, or change one of your monster positions, and guess which option I choose!?"

"Then I'll just end my turn by playing a facedown of my own and leave you guessing what it may be!" Akiza countered as the only monster on the field was placed in defense mode

 _'She's baiting me…'_ Will thought as she looked hard at the glaring psychic. "Fine, I'll call your bluff! I flip summon Assassin of the ancient shadows!" The blond assassin appeared on the field with a twirl of her knife. "And I'll summon Ark of Dinivas in attack mode." The black sword appeared next to the assassin.

Assassin of the Ancient Shadows: **(3 ATK/DEF:500/500)**

Ark of Dinivas: **(3 ATK/DEF:1000/1000)**

"And finally, I'll use them to synchro summon Lost knight: Dinivas!" The assassin grabbed the sword in her hand before unsheathing it with a red glow and green rings before the black knight swung out his sword and destroyed the image. Eyes glinting red.

Lost Knight: Dinivas **(6 ATK/DEF:2100/1000)**

"Trim that oversized shrub down to size!" Dinivas flew at the monster with a wide swing.

"If it's plants you wish to prune, you should beware of thorns!" Akiza remarked as her facedown card stood up to reveal a picture of prickly ivy. "By attacking my Gigaplant, Wall of Thorns activates and destroys all attacking monsters you have!"

From the ground in front of Akiza, vines literally rose from beneath the floorboards and embed themselves in the ceiling blocking Dinivas' path. Before the monster could return to Will's field, thorns shot from the ivy wall skewering it in several places before bursting into pixels.

"It looks like your monster could not hack it after all." Akiza commented smiling coldly at her own joke as the ivy wall returned to the earth beneath her feet leaving a small canyon between the duelists.

"Damn...I set two face downs and end my turn." Will gritted her teeth a bit as two cards appeared on her field before vanishing. "You calmed down yet or are you still hung up on that scumbag?" She stated as she glanced towards the doorway and finally noticing Akiza's parents. _'Why are they all still here!? This is isn't a regular duel where you can watch and make frikkin commentary_!'

"DON'T CALL HIM THAT!" Akiza shrieked letting out another pulse of unstable power. "He's done more to help me than anyone else ever has. He took me in and helped me unlike everyone else who either shunned me or abandoned me!"

Drawing a card with enough force she nearly tore it in two, Akiza slapped it onto her disk.

"I summon Twilight Rose Knight and use his ability to summon Botanical Girl from my deck to the field the use him to tune Botanical Girl to synchro summon Queen of Thorns in defense mode!" A small knight in dark armor appeared followed closely by a plant-lady before both disappeared to be replaced by a regal looking young woman garbed in plantlike clothing.

Twilight Rose Knight **(3 ATK/DEF:1000/1000)**

Botanical Girl **(3 ATK/DEF:1300/1100)**

Queen of Thorns **(6 ATK/DEF:2200/1800)**

"And when Botanical Girl is taken from the field to the graveyard, I get to add a monster card to my hand!" Akiza added drawing a card from her deck and showed it to Will. "And the monster I choose is Copyplant! Now, I change Gigplant into attack mode and have it attack your life points directly!"

Rearing back, the botanical behemoth thundered towards Will damaging the entire building's infrastructure with every step.

Will didn't want to have to use her trump cards so early but if that attack hit, it could probably kill her and take down the building with her. And she couldn't afford to let that happen with the others still inside. "Wrong! Your Gigaplant's gonna take a time out! I activate the trap card Dimensional Prison!" A tear in space occurred in front of the plant, sucking it up into it.

Akiza just smirked. She knew that was going to happen but did not know just how Will would stop her attack hence why she had Queen of Thorns in defense mode in case Will's trap would destroy all attack position monsters. She had seen enough of Will's true deck in the last turn to see just how to destroy her next turn.

"I place three cards facedown and end my turn!" The Witch finished. _'Come next turn, you will all regret taking Sayer away from me!'_

"You know you don't have to do this right?" Will questioned. Inwardly, she was wondering if she was saying that right and wishing that she had access to Yusei's endless supply of emotional speeches. "Ah screw it, I'm not Yusei, I set one monster face down and one card face down and end my turn."

There wasn't much she could do, Akiza's field was loaded and she had no monsters to speak of. She had to put out some shields before she can make a counter attack.

"It's my turn and I'll begin by summoning Copyplant and using it to tune my Queen of Thorns to synchro summon Black Rose Dragon!" Akiza declared summoning a weed like plant that transformed into a single ring that encircled her other monster. "Bloom into existence!"

Copyplant **(1 ATK/DEF:0/0)**

Black Rose Dragon **(7 ATK/DEF:2400/1800)**

From the pillar of light, Akiza's trademark monster bloomed into existence like its master had commanded ready to turn anyone who dared harm Akiza into plant food.

"And now, I activate her ability: by removing one plant monster in my graveyard, Black Rose Dragon can change one monster you control into face up attack mode and reset its attack power to zero." Akiza explained coldly removing her Lonefire Blossom from her graveyard. "So I remove Lonefire Blossom from my graveyard and, what was it you asked, guess which monster I choose, was it?"

Will gave out a sort of smirk as the card on her field was flipped up, showing a rather colorful man carrying a sword with a casual smirk.

D.D Warrior **(4 ATK/DEF:1200/1000- ATK/DEF:0/1000)**

The smirk was quick to disappear as Black Rose Dragon unleashed a plume of rouge flames along with causing Will's eyes to widen before she lifted her arms to shield herself from the flames. Her monster tried it's best to try and take the brunt of the blast but it shattered, the pixels cut into her arms as she was sent flying back into the wall with a crash giving her a sense of dazed de...de...She couldn't really remember what Kari called it but this happened in her first duel with Akiza.

 _ **Will:1600**_

"Akiza, stop this!" Hideo shouted out to his daughter stepping into the middle of the duel field. "You're harming your friend- and after all she had risked to rescue you!"

"She's _not_ my friend! Her and the others, they didn't save me they stopped me from going to help Sayer" Akiza cried glaring daggers at the man she once called father. "Nobody cared about me except him...and now he's gone!...Just like the rest of Arcadia Movement!"

Memories of that night returned to her. She remembered seeing Sayer falling to his death and, as she was being taken away from the building, saw the one place she called home crash to the ground.

Once again, she was alone, abandoned by those she thought had cared about her. Not even her _'Black Rose_ ' mask could stop the single tear fall down her cheek...

"And so is my sister!" Was the shout that went out before Will kicked away the machine the had landed on. Cuts littered her arms along with her jacket being singed and smoking. "You think you're the only one who lost people important to you!? My sister was my whole life, my whole _world_ , and now she's gone because that piece of shit you love so much stole two years of my life!" Tears started to stream out of her eyes as she tried to hold them back. "If I was there, I could've protected her, but I wasn't...at...at least you _have_ a family." She had nothing left. Her family was gone, and she had nothing left to return to...

"No..." Akiza growled digging her nails into her glowing Signer Mark. "I had a family. But once again they were taken away from me thanks to this accursed mark!"

Twice the Signer Mark had robbed her of a family. The first caused her parents to shun her because of the power she suddenly started displaying and now, days earlier, the Mark once again took away her family, this time attracting the attention of those hunting for people with Marks like hers.

"So long as this thing remains on me, I'll _always_ be alone!" Akiza cried her distress causing her powers to go haywire and start sending things not bolted down flying around either bouncing off the walls or going right through them.

"That's not true and you fucking know it!" Will roared out, gritting her teeth. "And I'll show you how stupid you're being right now! Since D.D Warrior"s ability comes into play, both monsters are banished after damage!"

Appearing as a see through ghost, D.D. Warrior slashed at the plant dragon causing it to fade away instead of blow up like most other monsters did when destroyed when in battle or by card effect.

"I was expecting something like that to happen. I activate my trap card: Dimensional return, and return my Black Rose Dragon back my deck along with all our banished monsters." Akiza replied activating one of her facedown cards. "Then, I'll play my other facedown cards: Synchro Spirits and Call of the Haunted allowing me to bring back Copyplant, Twilight Rose Knight and Botanical Girl!"

The three monsters previously seen during the course of the duel returned to Akiza's field.

Copyplant **(1 ATK/DEF:0/0)**

Twilight Rose Knight **(3 ATK/DEF:1000/1000)**

Botanical Girl **(3 ATK/DEF:1300/1100)**

"And now, I use Copyplant to tune Twilight Rose Knight and Botanical Girl to synchro summon Black Rose Dragon back to the field!" Akiza finished her one true friend returning to her field in a shower of crimson petals. "I end my turn."

Black Rose Dragon **(7 ATK/DEF:2400/1800)**

"So, you're just gonna use the same strategy?" Will snapped as she drew. "Hurting just to hurt and not caring who?! There are _children_ here, so you have the choice to be human or a monster. And that mark isn't going to change that!"

"And how would you know that!" Akiza screamed too distracted by Will and memories of her duel against Misty to notice the ceiling above starting to collapse. "You...Them... _Everyone_! All you do is bring me pain, suffering and call me a monster! If that is all you think of me as, then so-"

A loud bang cut Akiza off and forced her look up and finally notice the ceiling that was now coming down on top of her. Too shocked to move or even command her dragon to protect her, all she could do was accept that this was the end for her. Closing her eyes, she never did see the person who pushed her out of the way and take a decent chunk of brick and mortar across his back in exchange for protecting the daughter he had failed to be there for for so many years.

Wincing as her head connected painfully to the wall, Akiza blinked the stars from her eyes to see her father half buried before her.

"Fa...ther..." The word foreign to her as the sight before her eyes caused more tears to flow.

* * *

 **Leo: Aw, come on! How come you always leave us hanging?!**

 **Free: Because, if we just did every chapter like those other duel ones, it'd be boring and predictable.**

 **Leo: ...Fine. Then why is Luna always hanging around here then? Huh?**

 **Free: She finishes all her homework unlike a certain brother of hers- speaking of homework: here's that essay you wanted me to do for you, Grey.**

 **(Tosses Grey an A4 binder causing Grey to jump around in joy)**

 **Grey: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!**

 **Leo: You do her homework for her?**

 **Free: I may be called 'Forever Free' but I still need to do work myself- especially if I want to stay here & help with this fic.**

 **Grey: AMEN! Now, folks, be kind to favorite, review and spread the word about this fic & we'll see about getting the next chapter up as soon as school stops trying to kill me**!

* * *

 _ **Original Cards**_

* * *

Argent Shield

Trap/Normal

Choose 1 or both of the following effects: 1) Activate only when your opponent's monster attacks: Change the attacking monster to defense position. 2) equip this card to a Lost Knight you control. It gains 600 DEF


	23. Tender feelings and The Black Rose!

**Grey: Behold-**

 **Yulie &Alastor: No.**

 **Grey:...I liked you guys better during your arguing phase...**

 **Free: And the fact that they ganged up on you?**

 **Grey: I was getting to that. Also when did you get here!?**

 **Yulie: Luna wanted to switch out for a bit. That and Leo sort of found the Halloween candy early so...yeah.**

 **Alastor: If you've ever seen the Tasmanian Devil in those cartoons. THAT, _that_ is what it looks like in the break room.**

 **Free...We have a break room?**

 **Alastor: Free and Grey own nothing, just the ocs and the words below.**

 **Free: stop ignoring me...**

* * *

""Why...?" Was the only word Akiza could choke out.

She should be happy to see the man she no longer considered as her father to be harmed. And yet… the sight of him half buried under a ton of ceiling structure had her feeling a pain in her chest worse than anything she had ever experienced even that of losing Sayer.

"Akiza...After all I have not done, ignoring what I should have done...You shed your tears for me?" Hideo groaned noticing the teary face his child was making for him.

Against his will, and despite the pain he was in, Hideo found himself feeling happy inside. For the first time, since Akiza had sent him crashing into the wall of their home in a psychic fueled temper tantrum for abandoning her and their duel for the sake of his job, he had acted like a proper father and protected his daughter.

If this was to be his last moments among the living, he could at least be at peace knowing that, if just for one moment, the eyes of the young woman in his field of vision reverted back to those of the daughter he had failed to raise for the sake of merely trying to keep a roof over his family's head.

Hearing his words, Akiza's mind was a swirl of emotions. Gone were the desires of pain and vengeance on those who had abandoned her and shunned her as a monster to be replaced by confusion, sadness and...guilt?

It was as if that one action made by Hideo, her father, had not only pushed Akiza out of harm's way but also banished the Black Witch residing within her leaving her feeling like she had just fallen out of bed and woken up from a bad dream only to find herself in the middle of a living nightmare.

The loud creaking sound made by what was left of the room's ceiling snapped Akiza back to reality. The moment her eyes reached the ceiling, the very roof began to collapse bringing the rest of the room down upon her father along with her mother and Will.

"Black Rose Dragon!" She cried out desperately instinctively calling out to her Signer Dragon to help her- no, to help those who were trying to help her.

Hearing her master's plea, the petal scaled dragon unleashed a large plume of crimson flames that not only destroyed the falling debris but took out a decent portion of the building's roof allowing several rooms to feel the light of the sun for the first time in a while.

With the imminent danger seemingly passed, Akiza's legs finally gave way tears flowing freely down her face as the force of her actions and the consequences they brought came crashing down upon her just like the roof almost did moments ago.

"I'm sorry…" She cried trying to focus on her father through teary eyes. "Daddy, can...can you ever…"

"Not that this isn't touching and all, but can this continue somewhere that isn't currently falling down around us- like outside?" Will interrupted pointing out that, while they were safe from the roof coming down on their heads, there was still the fact that the room, the entire building by the feel of things, felt like it could fall apart any moment now. "Like, maybe right now!?" She shouted as she tried to move the half ton of rubble that was nearly crushing Hideo under its weight.

"I agree! Honey, try to crawl out!" Mrs. Izinski shouted as she joined Will in trying to move the rubble off the senator. The two tried their best to move of the rubble but we're unable to because of the sheer weight.

"I...don't think that's possible..." Hideo groaned as Akiza watched the valiant effort to free her father before her fists clenched in her lap...And Hideo took in a big rush of air as vines wrapped around the rubble and lifted it off him. "A...Akiza?" His voice had a sense of disbelief and wonder at the action.

"I..." Akiza tried to rationalize her action, to tell her family in front of her exactly what this meant. But she didn't get a chance to as Will grabbed her hands and yanked her onto unsteady feet.

"No time! Run now!" Will shouted in a clipped tone as she moved Akiza's arm over her shoulder to better support the unsteady redhead. The older couple followed close behind with Hideo limping with his wife's support.

* * *

From the safety of outside the building, Yusei and the others could only wait and watch as the building across the road began to collapse in on itself.

While both Yusei and Luna had noticed that their Marks had faded away, indicating that the duel had somehow ended, neither of them knew the outcome only aware that something had happened in the middle of Akiza's turn causing her duel against Will to be cut short. Worse case scenario suggested that the building floor collapsed under one, or both, of the duelists' feet and they were now about to be buried alive along with Akiza's parents who were still inside also. Just that thought alone almost had Yusei running back inside to try and find out what had happened to them but knew that, if he went in there, he would not be coming back also.

Suddenly, Will and Akiza emerged from the front door of the building with AKiza's parents following close behind them. As if waiting for the last occupants to leave, the building groaned before finally collapsing in on itself kicking up a cloud of dirt and dust that hid everyone from view.

"Will!" Yusei called out through the dust deluge.

"We're all here, Yusei- although where here is, I have no idea." He heard Will shout out to him. "Everyone accounted for on your end?"

"Yeah! We all got out in time!" Yusei sighed in relief at the bullet they had just dodged. That was way too close. Even for him.

As the dust began to settle, Yusei could finally make out the forms of his old friend and the Izinski family. Noticing the injuries sustained by Hideo Izinski, Seria immediately rushed over to the man's side to see what she could do to help fortunately having had the common sense to grab a duffel bag full of medical supplies she had previously filled for when the time came to actually leave the building.

Seeing as the Senator was being tended to by the closest thing to a professional doctor, Yusei turned his attention to Akiza who had once again collapsed to her knees and was… well... pretty much a complete wreck if he were honest. He had seen her struggling with her demons during the Fortune Cup but, comparing her now to the girl he had dueled back then, it was like he was seeing the real Akiza Izinski for the first time which actually is true in a sense.

Speaking of the grief stricken teenager, Akiza was wishing that they had just left her to become buried alive for all the chaos and devastation she had caused. Even if she was not sound of mind, she had caused plenty of harm to many people since that Cursed Mark of hers had appeared, including her own father who had just now tried to help her even at the risk of his own life.

Misty Tredwell was right. She was just a monster that brought pain and despair to people and maybe even death to some who had crossed paths with her without even knowing…

"Akiza."

Blinking back tears, Akiza looked up to see Yusei crouching in front of her his eyes showing the same concerned look she had seen when they dueled.

"Why are you being kind to me?" Akiza asked in a small voice looking away from Yusei not wanting him to see her like this. "I've done many... many terrible things… for too long…"

"But you saw what you were doing and began to change even if you don't yet realise it." Yusei pointed out suggesting that, through the connection of their Signer Marks, he had sensed Akiza, the real Akiza that is, crying out asking Black Rose Dragon to help her father. "You're not alone, Akiza. You, me, Luna, Jack… We all share a piece of the Crimson Dragon, we're all connected through it and will be there for one another when we need it most- if not in person then at least in spirit through our Signer bond."

"In Japanese, he means that we're your friends and will be there for you when you need us most- and by we I'm including myself in that mix...if you're still not hating me for what I told you earlier, that is, Aki…" Will butted in noticing the purplette's confused yet far off look as she listened to Yusei's little speech.

Blinking in surprise as she turned her gaze from Yusei to Will, Akiza could only give them both a watery smile happy to see that, despite all that she had done, there were still people who wished to be her friend.

"So… does this mean those two have calmed down now?" Blister asked the twins not wanting to get any closer to the trio until he knew that the whole fiasco was now blown over. One building already had been demolished and he would rather any more destruction to happen was to be in the opposite direction in which he was heading.

While Leo merely shrugged in reply, knowing not much about angry women other than the fact they were super scary when angry, Luna subconsciously bit down on her lower lip in concern as she looked passed Yusei, Will and Akiza to the damage they had caused.

Their hideout was now nothing but a pile of broken concrete. Thankfully, nobody was inside it when it came down but, while everyone was at least alive, the pink clad greenette knew that there was one person who was not going to be thrilled about what had happened to his home when he saw what was left of it. And she had still to apologise for not informing Mido beforehand about inviting Akiza's parents to his base despite following after him- or rather attempted to as he had somehow disappeared from the premises before she could catch up to him.

"What...the...hell..."

Speaking of the very quiet devil, he seemed to be here. Looking at the rubble of his now former home with a twitching eye and a small bag of groceries in a white knuckled grip, Mido looked to be a hair-trigger away from blowing his own psychic volcano in the eyes of everyone else when they noticed him.

"Who-Never mind, I can guess who!" He growled as his eyes centered on the sniffling witch on the floor.

"It...I-" Akiza muttered before looking at the floor finding the cracks in the sidewalks much easier to look at then the glare that was burning holes into her back.

"We'll pay for it." Hideo cut in as he looked at the boy with a calm, collected look that was a staple for politicians.

Completely caught off-guard by the politician's sudden intervention, Mido focused his gaze on the older man starting to revert back to the taciturn teen everyone bar the Izinski's were more familiar with.

"You'll pay for everything? The whole building?" He asked suspiciously not really buying the offer right off the bat.

"Everything. Electricity, plumbing, it will be to your exact specifications. It's the least I can do for the man who sheltered my daughter while she was injured." Hideo assured Mido meeting the teen's gaze without breaking it.

"...Just rebuild the place. I'm no architect." Mido muttered finally breaking the staredown with the older man and walking off.

Watching as the taciturn teen marched passed them towards the remains of his home, Luna let out a silent sigh of relief. Thank god for rich politicians with cool heads. If not for Mr Izinski's timely intervention, the greenette was certain Mido would not have hesitated to cut all ties to them- maybe even harm them also in the process.

She was not the only one relieved that the crisis had been averted. Despite looking calm on the outside, Hideo Izinski was feeling like he had just came out of a heated business meeting with one of his old superiors back when he was a young man. It was almost comical were it not for the situation to find that, in a place rife with violence, a peaceful negotiation could happen without things taking a turn for the worst, if just barely.

Looking around to the whole group an idea came to mind that may help progress the situation further. "Given that you are now currently without a place to stay, you all can even stay at our home until everything gets sorted, I insist."

"A..are you sure...Dad?" Akiza looked up at her father. Not only was the man willing to pay for something she destroyed, he was now offering them refuge, even for herself?

"Of course. I don't know what you all are doing together but I'm sure it's very important." Hideo smiled at his daughter. If it helped in repairing the destroyed bridge between himself and his estranged daughter, it was the least he could do.

"I won't say no to sleeping in a real bed within a big ass mansion..." Will grinned at the thought before blinking at the exasperated look she was getting from Yusei. "What!? I'm tired okay!?"

Yusei wisely held his tongue. He wanted to point out that things may not have turned out as such had she not been so...blunt about things but it appeared that she was now more or less back to her old self. Besides, she had needed to let it out anyways, just like Akiza had and now both appeared to be better off now that they had gotten things off their chests.

"Um...Mr Izinski? Do you...think it'll be possible for Mido to come with us also?" Luna nervously asked.

"WHAT?!" Leo exclaimed not believing what he was hearing. Here they were, about to get away from Mido the mech-monster meanie, the one person he never wanted to see again- until he could come up with an invincible-unbeatable-surefire-super-duper-combo-strata-thingy to beat him, that is- and his sister was trying to get them to take the teen with them?

While not exactly along the same lines as the blue clad greenette, Mido himself was thinking the same thing. He had kept up his end of the deal: he had provided them shelter and protection until the two girls had recovered- at the cost of his duel disk and home. With both Will and Akiza now sane back on their feet, Mido was sure they would be wanting to get as much distance from him as possible and likely forget about him just as quick. It was clear to him that Leo definitely never wanted to see him again but his sister seemed to be the exact opposite.

"I was including everyone in that invite, including your friend Mister...Mido, was it?" Hideo asked looking over to the taciturn teen's back. "After all you have done for my daughter, the least I can do is put a roof over your head until I fix the roof my daughter accidentally tore down."

"D-daddy!" Akiza exclaimed feeling heat fill her cheeks as if she had just stepped into a sauna. They were not back together as a proper family and already he was embarrassing her in front of her...friends.

"Not interested." Mido remarked causing Hideo to stare at the teen with wide eyes at how easily his offer had been brushed off as if it were a mere flyer he was offering and not free room and board for who knows how long.

"If I may be of assistance, Senator." Seria spoke up. "Mr Midorikawa- or Mido as everyone else seems to call him- is not someone who just takes something for free. He is also a psychic duelist just like your daughter but with a great more deal of control of his powers- No offense Miss Izinski." She added to the girl in question.

"I see…" Hideo said smiling as he realised what the former Arcadia Movement doctor was hinting at. "Then what about becoming a tutor for my daughter? You could think of it as paying rent while you stay with us."

Like watching a tennis rally, all heads turned from the senator to the taciturn teen to see what his reply would be.

"...Fine." Mido eventually replied his shoulders sagging slightly in defeat as if sensing that the older man was never going to take no for an answer and was not really in the mood to argue after all that had happened to him in the past few days.

Leo groaned audibly letting his head hang in frustration at the prospect of having to live with his 'sworn rival' for even longer completely unaware of the happiness that was suddenly emanating from his sister unlike a certain orangette.

"You sure seem to be happy all of a sudden." Will commented to the smiling twin in pink.

"Of course! The longer Mido's with us, the better chance we have of figuring out how to thank him for all he's done for us." Luna pointed out happily as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Riiiiiiiiight. If you say so." Will replied sounding somewhat cryptic as she walked over to help Akiza get to her feet.

Blinking in confusion, Luna tilted her head to the side in puzzlement. To her, it had sounded like Will did not believe her despite it being the truth. Why else would she be happy that her friend would still be with them for a while longer?

* * *

 **Yulie:...This was...uh...**

 **Alastor: Short. Dramatically so.**

 **Grey: Don't blame us! This chapter was like pulling out a rotten tooth...**

 **Free: It's true. To be fair, nothing big happens till the next chapter.**

 **Yulie: Which issss?**

 **Grey: Now that would be telling.**


	24. Psychic test and Keeping Cool!

**Yulie: There had better be some good stuff happening in the next chapter.**

 **Free: Yeah, yeah.**

 **Grey: You sound less than enthusiastic.**

 **Free: It's currently what I call the 'Christmas Rush' where I'm from. More specifically, where I work.**

 **Yulie: We'll play the smallest fiddle for you later. Do the disclaimer & let the audience get to the story.**

 **Free: Fine. Me & Grey only own the words below & two OCs. Everything else belongs to their respective creators.**

* * *

Watching from a safe distance, Lazar quietly took in the sight of the construction site that had definitely not been here in the Daimon Area the other day. Not only that but, if his information network was correct, this was supposed to be the place where the Signers should have been residing. Either his network was in need of an update or something unforeseen had happened between the events regarding the destruction and disappearance of the Arcadia Movement and the time he had taken to track down the Signers supposedly current whereabouts.

Regardless of what he thought and speculated, the minute man knew he needed to report this to the Director.

* * *

Akiza still wasn't sure if she was still dreaming within her coma, to her, that seems like a more logical conclusion then what was happening. She had never thought, even for a minute, that she would ever be back in her family home, walking in the halls and letting her fingers lightly graze over the pristine wallpaper. Her parents obviously haven't changed a thing since she left, either out of guilt or various other forms of procrastination. Even her own bedroom was also the same, same books, same furniture, they had even kept some of the old dolls that she played with in her childhood while she waited for her father to come home from work and play with her.

"They couldn't let go either..." She mumbled to herself as she looked out the window and at the rose garden that was cultivating there. They were as trapped as she was in a sense...

"Miss Akiza?" Her ears perked up at the familiar voice as she turned to see Seria walking towards her. Phone and laptop under one arm as the psychic doctor looked tired with dark circles under her eyes. "I...managed to account for who's missing..."

Akiza winced at that, remembering the destruction of the Arcadia Movement headquarters and those colossal titans, Misty had called them _Earthbound Immortals_ , that had sucked away the lives of her family along with the life of Sayer, who she still had trouble believing that he was bad with all the kind words he gave her...

But it was hard to argue with the evidence when Seria had let her look at the files and the... _experiments_. It made her sick to her core, knowing that the one she looked up to had done these horrible things. Her power had nearly flared up in response to her emotion but luckily her limiter had blocked it for the most part. "Are there any-"

"No bodies." Akiza wasn't sure if she should be relieved or sickened. "Of all the five hundred people within the building...only Liquid and Okita got out."

Now Akiza breathed a sigh of relief, she remembered them. They were Will's roommates when she was still brainwashed. "Are they alright?"

"Yes, I managed to get in contact with them a few minutes ago. They're alright but they're very shaken by what happened." She could see the doctor's eyes flash with guilt as she squeezed her laptop. "They have decided to lay low in the slums for now, till things blow over...They also wanted to give their regards to Will."

To her shock, Akiza found herself smiling slightly at the doctor's words. Despite having been brainwashed, it seemed those two really thought of Will as their friend just like Yusei did for her despite her open hostility to him. The only question now was whether or not Will still thought of the two as her friends after what they had done to Luna brainwashed or not.

But that would have to come later. Right now Akiza needed to be somewhere and wandering the halls of the place she once called home.

For the past few days, Akiza had been learning from Mido how to properly channel, manifest and, ultimately, control her powers without tearing everything around her to shreds. Surprisingly, despite fearing the taciturn teen would be cold and cruel to her for what she had done to his home, Mido had been a good teacher showing her how to summon her monsters without the use of negative emotions such as anger and sorrow to fuel her powers which had helped to earn her such a despicable reputation.

Just like the last couple days, Akiza arrived in the empty garden plaza to find Mido already waiting for her. This time however, he was wearing a duel disk while holding another one in his offhand evidently for her. As she got closer, she noticed that the disks were an old Kaiba Corp. design, one of the first models ever made back during the start of the legendary 'King of Games' dueling career if she remembered her Duel History classes.

She also noticed that the Yusei, Will and the twins were sitting off to the side to watch her progress and not just her parents this time. While she did not mind her parents observing her lessons, something she had just started getting used to, having Yusei and the others watching also was causing her nervousness to return threefold as she approached her teacher.

"Things are going to be different today." Mido told her curtly as he handed her the spare disk. "We're going to be having a mock duel using these disks your old man had lying around in his attic collecting dust."

Nervous and now puzzled, Akiza merely nodded as she took the disk taking note that the model was _older_ than even those used by Yusei and everyone else in Satellite having just five spaces on top of the fin but no slots for any spell or trap cards. It also had no power, she suddenly noted quickly realising that they would be using their psychic powers to manifest their respective cards.

Remaining quiet, Akiza slipped on the duel disk and mirrored her teacher who had taken his deck from his pocket and gave it a quick shuffle before handing it over to her to shuffle also.

"Why do _I_ have to be here?" Leo grumbled as he watched the two duelists finish shuffling one another's decks then step away from each other to opposing sides of the field.

"You weren't exactly doing anything useful beforehand." Will pointed with a cheeky grin despite having been in the same position as the greenette in blue.

Out of the four of them, Yusei had been the only one doing something constructive in the form of tinkering with his duel runner- not much of a change in two years, Will couldn't help but think. She herself had been lounging around listening to Luna talk about her life before Yusei had _literally_ crashed into their world whereas Leo had simply been lazing around preferably somewhere where Mido was not.

Leo could only huff in response. He was still sulking a bit for still having to live under the same roof as the taciturn teen and tried to keep as far away as possible. While he would not have minded seeing Akiza take out Mido, Leo knew that Mido was going to be the one winning today.

"I'll take the first move!" Mido declared drawing a card and adding it to his hand.

 _ **Mido:4000**_

 _ **Akiza:4000**_

"I'll play one card face down and summon Blitz Gundam in defense mode." He said as he placed one card face down on one of the disk's five spaces and another face up while a black mech with red trim appeared before him.

 **Blitz Gundam** : (3 ATK/DEF:700/1400)

'So I was right. This is to be a psychic duel.' Akiza thought noting that the mech monster had just 'appeared' rather than the usual summoning effects that occurred when normal summoning a monster.

That nervous feeling gently bubbling inside of her since seeing Yusei and the others would be watching her duel was starting to grow despite her best attempts at keeping it under control. She was not going to give up though. After all the trouble she had put Mido through, there was no way she could just tell him that she was not ready for this next stage of her training all because there were a few extra people watching her progress. With that determination suppressing her nervousness, the young psychic duelist in training drew her sixth card.

"My turn! I'll begin by summoning my Twilight Rose Knight and use his ability to special summon Lord Poison from my hand!" Akiza proclaimed slapping two cards one after another onto her disk.

For a moment, neither aforementioned monster appeared before Akiza. And then, gradually, the two monsters materialised, first the lavender armored Twilight Rose Knight then the hideously deformed Lord Poison, much to Akiza's relief.

 **Twilight Rose Knight** : (3 ATK/DEF:1000/1000)

 **Lord Poison:** (4 ATK/DEF:1500/1000)

"Next, I'll have my Knight tune up my Lord Poison to synchro summon my Black Rose Dragon!" Akiza continued taking the two monster cards off the disk and replacing them with her signature monster.

This time, while there was no sign of the familiar synchro summon effects, the monster materialised with a little added gusto everyone in the audience took notice of.

 **Black Rose Dragon** : (7 ATK/DEF:2400/1800)

"Now, Black Rose Dragon, destroy his monster with Black Rose Flare!" Akiza ordered of her signature monster which had already began to open its maw in preparation of unleashing that all too familiar plume of crimson flames.

"I activate my trap card: Mirage Colloid System!" Mido called up flipping over his face down card on his disk. "This allows me to return Blitz Gundam to my hand and summon another Gundam monster to the field in its place. And the monster I choose is ZZ Gundam!"

Watching as the mech went from black with red trim to nearly invisible, Leo gritted his teeth in frustration as he recognised the bulky white and blue mech that gave him his latest loss from the taciturn teen.

 **ZZ Gundam** : (8 ATK/DEF:2800/2000)

Having already declared her attack, Akiza could only watch as her dragon's attack speared towards the new target which was quickly nullified by the blast shot by the mech that also destroyed her dragon.

 _ **Akiza:4000-3600**_

"I place two cards face down and end my turn." Akiza finished taking a couple deep breaths to calm her nerves. It was only the second turn, after all. No need to be having a strop over losing a few life points...and her signature card.

"My turn. ZZ Gundam, attack her life points with Double Beam Rifle!" Mido ordered.

' _Now_!' Akiza thought with a smirk, reaching for one of the cards on her deck as the mech pointed its double barrelled rifle at her. "I activate my facedown: Mirror Force! This turns your monster's own attack against you!"

Flipping over the card, Akiza willed her psychic powers to create a shimmering wall in front of herself that reflected the twin beams of, supposedly, deadly energy right back at the monster that fired them, destroying it and leaving Mido's field empty of monsters.

Unable to hold it in, Leo let out a whoop of joy which prompted Akiza's parents themselves to cheer for their daughter. Hearing her parents' words of encouragement, Akiza could not help but smile in happiness. Noticing her smile, Yusei could not help but frown sensing that this sudden feeling of euphoria building within the girl would come back to haunt her next turn.

"I'll play one card face down and summon Blitz Gundam in defense mode. Turn end." Mido finished calmly as if he had not just lost one of his most powerful cards.

 **Blitz Gundam:** (3 ATK/DEF:700/1400)

"My turn, and I'll start by summoning Lonefire Blossom to the field then sacrifice it to special summon Gigaplant in attack mode!" Akiza began eagerly slapping the card she had just drawn onto the field barely waiting for the little bulb to materialise through her powers before swapping it for that of more monstrous looking plant monster.

 **Lonefire Blossom:** (3 ATK/DEF:500/1400)

 **Gigaplant:** (6 ATK/DEF:2400/1200)

"Next, I'll activate my trap card, Call of the Haunted, to bring back Lonefire Blossom!" Akiza continued this time showing off in making the plant monster reappear by having it sprout out of the ground like an actual flower. "This time, I'll use it's ability to special summon Botanical Lion in attack mode!"

Now the bulb blossomed into a four legged creature greatly resembling a lion after a mane of red leaves formed on its neck.

 **Botanical Lion** : (4 ATK/DEF:1600/2000)

"And I'm not done yet! From my hand, I equip Gigaplant with Supervise transforming my monster into an effect monster and allow me to activate its ability and special summon one monster from my hand!" Akiza continued to engrossed in her plan and switching out cards on her disk to notice she was starting to sweat from the constant summoning and re-summoning of monsters. "And it just so happens that the last card in my hand happens to be Gigantic Cephalotus!"

Beside the two creatures resembling a lion and hideous monster, another plant-like creature took form courtesy of Akiza's powers. As it did so, the lion monster seemed to grow larger.

 **Gigantic Cephalotus** : (4 ATK/DEF:1850/700)

"And let's not forget Botanical Lion's ability: for every plant monster I control, it's attack goes up three hundred points per monster!"

 **Botanical Lion** : (ATK:1600-ATK:2500)

"Sorry for keeping you waiting, but now I'll begin my battle phase! Starting with Gigaplant!" Akiza declared mentally ordering the aforementioned monster to attack Mido's only defense monster.

"Why is Akiza having Gigaplant first instead of Gigantic Sip-a-lettuce? It's got less attack points!" Leo pointed out.

"Because Gigantic _Cephalotus-_ " Luna put as much emphasis as she could on the word. "-gets a boost to it's attack every time a plant monster is destroyed."

Unlike her brother, Luna knew that Akiza was using Gigaplant first to see if it would trigger Mido's trap card. The combined total of the duelist's two remaining monsters would still be more than four thousand but the pink clad greenette had a strong feeling that Mido would still win this duel despite the overwhelming odds.

Sure enough, before Akiza's Gigaplant could reach Mido, laser blasts rained down in front of the monster forcing it to halt its advance. Looking up along with everyone else, Akiza could only mentally curse as another of Mido's Gundam monsters descended from above sporting a laser rifle in each hand while multiple blue...things, she decide to call them, reattached themselves to it's jetpack.

"Don't apologise. Because you declared an attack I activated my trap card: DRAGOON System!" Mido calmly replied flipping over his face down card. "This ends your battle phase and lets me special summon Strike Freedom Gundam to my side of the field."

 **Strike Freedom** : (8 ATK/DEF:3000/2500)

 _'Thought so…'_ Yusei thought to himself as his hunch was proven correctly.

Having been so happy at first catching Mido off-guard then getting those cheers from her parents, Akiza became overconfident and foolishly put everything she had into her next turn expecting to come out triumphant instead of being wary of Mido's face down card. From what he had seen of the taciturn teen's deck, the Signer could deduce that it focused on special summons, particularly from 'System' named trap cards that allowed Mido to bring out some of his best monsters without the summoning costs.

Those cards were certainly giving Akiza some grief, Yusei noted, looking over to his fellow Signer. He could tell from the way her face was scrunched up that she was trying her hardest not to lose her cool which was probably what Mido was trying to make her do through the course of the duel. He really hoped that the girl could overcome this test.

"Come on that's only a trim, you got this!" Will suddenly shouted out from beside him, causing him and the twins to jump slightly.

Having been mentally trying to calm down while at the same time think of a way to harm her opponent, Akiza's mind was brought out of that stewing anger by the pun that Will gave off. Terrible and simple, it made her crack up slightly with a quiet giggle. It was...refreshing in a way, after all the terrible ups and downs in her life. It was amazing how Will was able to manage being upbeat with all she lost. It made her slightly jealous and also happy that she was a friend.

"No puns." Akiza calmed her laugh as she gave out a wince. "That was just terrible."

"Oh come on! You're laughing, so it was punny." Will snickered at her own pun as everyone else groaned in phantom pain.

"That was even worse, please, _please_ stop." Akiza was nearly begging now as she gave out a little wince. She then looked at her hand before nodding to herself, she had to remind herself that no matter how much this game was empowered, it was still that. A game. And the first step to controlling her powers is to work to get rid of her sore loser mentality. "I end my turn. Your move."

 _'Stupid idiot_!' Mido cursed Will as he drew a card.

He had asked those idiots to spectate the duel in order to make Akiza feel pressured given how well she had been progressing during their lessons so far and see how well she could cope. He had hoped that at least Leo and Will would have called out to her, telling her to not give up or inquire as to why she was having trouble beating him, hampering her in such a way that she would unwittingly unleash her powers. While the crowd had not helped like he had hoped, his duelling tactics were definitely getting to Akiza, at least until Will butted in with something about a trim and caused Akiza to calm down.

"Strike Freedom! Destroy her monsters starting with her lion!" Mido ordered.

Combining it's two rifles into one large cannon, the giant mech fired a single beam of energy that swept through Akiza's monsters starting with her Botanical Lion, Gigaplant and finally Gigantic Cephalotus which had an added four hundred attack points due to it's ability.

 _ **Akiza:3600-1750**_

"I'll end my turn by playing the spell card Treasure Cards from the Heavens."

"Why did he do that?" Luna asked in puzzlement as both duelists drew cards until they each held six cards in their respective hand.

She knew that Mido could have attacked again with Strike Freedom and won the duel right there. Also, his use of that spell card helped out Akiza more than himself.

"Cause he wants to annoy her so she'll lose her cool." Will could tell that Mido not ending the duel there when he clearly could've, annoyed Akiza. Her jaw was set and her eyes were narrowed at the Gundam user. "It's a test: he wants to see if she can keep her powers in check even when angered by her opponent...If she was Leo, she definitely won't pass but she's not so-"

 _"Hey_!" Leo shouted as Luna giggled a bit.

That swift blow to her pride annoyed her, she wanted to make Mido _pay_ for not ending the duel when he could've. On the other hand she knew that he was giving her a chance to prove herself- but that still didn't make the sting any less as she examined the cards in her hand and then glanced to her parents who were spectating.

"I..." She bit her lip before sighing as she placed her hand on her deck. "I surrender."

The loss in front of her parents and friends hurt her but, for some reason, she did not feel angry or sad about it. Before she could dwell on it, the sound of clapping reached her ears coming from her parents who were looking on proudly at their daughter for having the courage to gracefully accept defeat like a proper duelist. If not for Yusei and Will around, Akiza would have probably not been able to refrain from crying.

"You may be getting better," Mido's voice suddenly cut through her happiness. "But don't go assuming every duel can end with a simple 'I give up'."

"Oh, quit being a stick in the mud and let her enjoy her accomplishment." Will interjected on Akiza's behalf before the girl could reply to the taciturn teen's cold words.

"She might not have gotten that accomplishment had you kept your mouth shut." Mido countered glancing over at the orangette. "Maybe next time, I'll have you duel her. Pinky says you were 'quite mean' during those duels of yours she witnessed."

Unable to come up with a proper retort, Will instead turned wide eyed to Luna more shocked that the girl would say that about her than anything else.

For her part, Luna could only hold up her hands in a placating gesture while starting to back away slightly fearing her friendship with the older girl was about to end. When Mido had asked her earlier about what Will and Yusei were like when they duelled, she had just went and told him all that she could too happy by the fact that Mido was asking her something for a change to wonder why he was asking about that of all things.

"He has a point, Will. You do tend to become arrogant and antagonising when you duel." Yusei stepped causing Will to now stare at him allowing Luna to breath a sigh of relief.

"I...have to agree with Yusei." Akiza spoke up while looking at her feet. "You were rather provocative during our duel… Although I guess I was sort of the same during our first duel."

"Et tu, Aki?!" Will groaned turning to stare at the girl.

All she needed now was for Yulie or Kara to suddenly appear and confirm the words of her friends. The card spirits had been quiet over the last couple days and Will was wondering if something had happened in the Spirit World to keep them occupied. She would have to ask Luna later on about that- along with a few others topics, Will reckoned, in retaliation for tattling to the taciturn teen about her bad habits.

Any further discussion about Will's duelling habits or Akiza's psychic duelling propress was interrupted by the arrival of one of the Izinski's servants stepping into the plaza with a blue haired woman following along behind her. While most of the group present were just merely curious as to who this person was, Yusei and the twins instantly recognised her as Jack's manager and one of Director Goodwin's lackeys.

If she was here, Yusei was quick to assume that the Director had finally found them…

* * *

 **Grey: This took wayyyy longer then I thought...**

 **Free: To be fair...life's a bitch.**

 **Yulie: Holy...you're actually _cursing_.**

 **Alastor: That's how you know it's horrible, anyway here's hoping there's actual plot development in the next chapter.**

* * *

Blitz Gundam

Water

3

700/1400

[Machine/Effect] While this card is on the field: your opponent can only target this "Gundam" monster during their battle phase.

Mirage Colloid System

Trap/Normal

Activate when your opponent declares an attack & choose 1 of the following:

Special summon 1 Blitz Gundam from your hand or deck in face-up attack mode. Return 1 Blitz Gundam you control to your hand & special summon 1 Gundam monster from your hand in face-up attack mode.

ZZ Gundam (pronounced "Double Zeta Gundam")

Dark

8

2800/2000

[Machine/Effect] You can tribute 3 "Gundam" monsters to tribute summon this card (but not set). If you do:destroy all monsters on your opponent's field.

DRAGOON System

Trap/Counter

Activate when your opponent declares an attack. End battle phase and special summon 1 Strike Freedom Gundam from your extra deck without summon costs.

Strike Freedom Gundam

Light

8

3000/2500

[Machine/Fusion/Effect] (Strike Gundam & Freedom Gundam) This card can attack all monsters your opponent controls once.

Treasure Cards from the Heavens

Spell/Normal

Each player draws cards from their deck until each holds 6 cards in hand.


	25. Epic of the Signer!

**Grey: Ok...Just to clarifiy...This isn't my fault!**

 **Free: Well it's not mine. I did my part.**

 **Grey: Well we need somebody to blame!**

 **Free:...Crow?**

 **Grey: I can live with that!**

 **Crow: Hey! I'm a fictional friggin being! You can't blame your ruts on me!**

 **Grey: Just do the disclaimer bird boy.**

 **Crow: Don't ignore me! Ugh these two don't own yugioh or any of it's affiliates...**

* * *

Having previously been Mr Atlas' assistant for the past two years, Mina Simington had no problem keeping her composure in front of the current Champion Yusei Fudo and the infamous Black Rose aka Akiza Izinski along with everyone else currently residing in the Izinski residence. Initially, she had just come to see if Akiza Izinski had returned to her parents after the demise of the Arcadia Movement building. She had not been expecting to find her and the two other people Director Goodwin was wanting her and Lazar to locate.

"Mr Fudo, Miss Stevens, I see you're here too. That's great." She said acknowledging the presence of Yusei and Luna before continuing on. "Mr Fudo, Miss Izinski, Miss Stevens, Director Goodwin would like to see you now."

While most of the people present looked at her in surprise at her words, Mina's keen eyes noted that Yusei Fudo and the orangette beside him seemed to tense up as if her words had offended the two.

"What does he want with us?" Yusei asked her calmly.

"He has something very important to discuss with you regarding the Crimson Dragon and the Signers." Mina replied repeating what Director Goodwin had told her in his office before she had left for the Izinski residence. "There is a car waiting for you all outside. If you would like to follow me."

Mina watched as Yusei glanced first to the orangette then Akiza before turning back to face her.

"We'll be out in a minute." Yusei replied curtly.

Catching the subtle request, Mina nodded politely before about facing and following the servant back the way she came secretly hoping that they would be following along shortly and would not have to report to the director that the three people he was looking for were refusing his invite.

She had already lost one job this month, she did not want to lose another so soon.

* * *

The moment the bluette had left her field of vision, Will turned on her friend with an intense gaze.

"Are we really going to just go walking into the belly of the beast?" She asked Yusei.

After hearing all of what had happened to Yusei, Jack and...Kari, Will was under the distinct impression that this Director was behind most of all the events that had happened from Jack's betrayal right up to the Fortune Cup final. At this point, she would not have been surprised if the very event was rigged just to find these Signer people.

Akiza was with Will on this. Before receiving her invite to the Fortune Cup, she had been spending most of her time in Arcadia Movement going out during the evenings on occasion to test herself where she inadvertently began to earn her dark reputation. To her, asides meeting Yusei, the Fortune Cup had been nothing but a setup for everyone to see her get taken down and for psychic duelists to be slandered and victimised.

"Yusei, do you really think we can trust Goodwin?" She asked of him worried that whatever happens next was to just be a repeat of the Fortune Cup or even worse, her duel with Misty Tredwell.

"I know he's already done much to all of us, but none of us have a clue as to what to do next. If Goodwin really does have information concerning us and the Crimson Dragon, we're going to have to go see him." Yusei said.

He was just as unhappy as the others with what the Director had done to him and his friends, too much for him to forgive the man right off the bat. But the vision he had seen during his duel with Jack in the Fortune Cup felt too real to him to merely shrug off the idea of Satellite disappearing amongst the flames of destruction. As the only person he knew of with information concerning Signers and the Crimson Dragon, Yusei had no choice but to go along with Goodwin's plans for the time being.

Will let out a frustrated sigh as she scratched the back of her head.

"Fine- but I'm tagging along too. I only just found you and myself again so no _way_ I'm gonna let you disappear on me again." Will said prodding Yusei in the chest several times in the process and earning confused looks from the twins.

Secretly grateful that his friend would be joining him into the belly of the beast as she called it, Yusei looked over at Akiza who, despite looking unsure of what to do, nodded her consent agreeing to go see Goodwin with them also apparently encouraged by the fact that Yusei and Will would be there too.

"If...you're all going, then I'll come along too." Luna spoke up getting their attention. As much as she would prefer staying here and letting the grown ups, she was a Signer also meaning that if this concerned Yusei and Akiza, then she would have to go also even if she was scared.

Still, it was not like she was going to be the only kid going to join them and no sooner had she spoken out-

"If Luna's going then so am I!" Leo quickly proclaimed before anyone else could get a word in.

He had been unable to be there for his sister one too many times now allowing Mido to steal his place as Luna's protector. Whether or not the taciturn teen tagged along also, Leo was not going to allow him to get any closer to Luna than he already was if he could help it.

"Oh no you don't, little miss! After all you've been through in _both_ worlds this past week, you and your brother are staying right here where Aki's parents and Seria can keep an eye you." Will reprimanded the greenette.

Even though that blue haired skank had said that Luna was required to be at this meet with this Director jerk, Will's 'protective big sister' vibe was screaming to keep the little girl as far from his clutches for as long as possible and she did not care who said what otherwise.

"Why do I have to stay also? I could go in her place!" Leo protested. "I can even-mmm-mmmmph!"

Realising what her brother was about to blurt out, Luna quickly slapped a hand over Leo's mouth as she dragged him to the other side of the room trying her hardest to ignore the stares they were bound to be getting now from everyone else. Sure, Yusei knew about Leo dressing up as her and taking her place for one of her matches in the Fortune Cup _\- and maybe that psychic doctor Seria_ \- but for reasons her heart could not comprehend just yet, Luna desperately did not want Will and the others to know she had let her brother dress up in her clothes despite the fact most of the embarrassment would be solely on Leo's shoulders not hers.

"Don't ever- _ever_ \- tell anyone you pretended to be me during the Fortune Cup please!" Luna half demanded half begged in a low voice to her brother so that no one else could hear them. "I'll give you my pudding for a week if you do."

With his sister's hand still covering his mouth, Leo could not properly voice his opinion over Luna's request but was smart enough to know that she was dead serious about wanting to keep this between the two of them and Yusei- especially if she was willing to give him her puddings.

"Mmph-mmf!" Leo mumbled holding up two fingers indicating he wanted her puddings for two weeks.

"...Fine. Just promise me you won't tell anyone, please?!" Luna pleaded.

"Mff!" She could feel him smirking triumphantly against her hand as he gave out a thumbs up in confirmation. Making her roll her eyes as she finally removed her hand.

Now that her brother was dealt with..."Well what should we do? Goodwin won't be happy that not only am I skipping out-" She really hopes she's saying that correctly. "But you're bringing along Will too." She's never met the man but from what she's heard, he likes his plans to go smoothly.

"Well...We'll just send somebody as your proxy or whatever." Will shrugged. Going in numbers would probably be safer anyway. "Hey Mido, you up for an intimidation tactic!?" Not just one, but two psychic duelists should make Goodwin behave.

Mido looked at Will as if she had just asked him something stupid. Just because he had honored their agreement and sheltered them, along with accepting Akiza's father's proposal and invite, did not mean he was part of this little circus troupe.

"Come on, stop insulting us with your mind." Will rolled her eyes at the look. "It's better to have strength in numbers, even you can't argue that."

"Just have 'Brambles' summon her garden gang then." Mido pointed out earning looks of confusion from the twins until they realised he was refering to Akiza.

"Really? Brambles?" Akiza's nose scrunched up slightly in distaste. She was expecting the more common nickname like Red or Aki...

"Point. But think of it this way, if you go, we can make an excuse that you're acting as Luna's lia.. Lia..." Will put a finger to her chin as she tried to find the word to describe it.

"Liability?" Leo provided helpfully to Will.

"No that's not it." Will hummed. Her nose scrunched up in hard thought.

"Liaison." Luna sighed.

"Yeah! That fancy word she just said." Will grinned, her face relaxing again as she crossed her arms.

"Doesn't explain why I must do it. I only let you lot stay with me cause you got me out too- fat lot of good that did." Mido added glaring Akiza's way briefly before turning back to Will.

He held a good point sans the destruction of his home. If one was to ignore that not-so-little titbit, Mido and Will's deal was considered done and they could now both go their separate ways- or at least could were they not all staying under the same roof albeit for different reasons this time.

"Oh, you need an explanation..." Will nodded as if that explained everything. "Well for starters you only stopped one of the shadow dudes. Two, that painted a big, bright, _vvvvery_ appealing target on your back for dark spirit mojo. Three, you can get payback for almost becoming a very _burnt_ stick in the mud. And lastly, you get the satisfaction of helping out your new friends." She seemed like she had to resist grinning an awful lot when she said friends.

Mido was silent as he glared at the orangette. It was clear the girl was pushing his buttons but she had pressed so many he did not know whether to knock her out again or agree to being Pinky's liaison and likely bodyguard later on no doubt. Yes, he had only managed to stop one of the intruders and yes he wanted to get back at them for invading his domain- while it had still been standing- but that did not mean he was their friend even if he had agreed to be so for one of their number.

"FRIENDS!?" Leo exclaimed loudly for all to hear on the far side of Satellite while staring at Will in horror. "He kept beating me and made me get shocked by what's-his-name's thing-a-ma-jig! There is no way me and Luna will ever be his friends!" He declared pointing an accusing finger at Mido. He could care less whether or not everyone else was friends with the mecha Psychic jerk but there was no way he was ever going to consider Mido as someone he would call a friend for a long, long time- or at least until he could beat him.

"Thanks for reminding me Leo!" Will grinned, making Leo gape at her as his entire tirade was ignored. "You also owe him." Will reached over and ruffled Leo's bangs with her fingers as he blinked slowly in confusion.

"Wait...so...that means..." Leo muttered as he tried to figure out what Will was going on about.

"Nothing." Mido interrupted. "He may have gotten hurt from our duels, but I was going to take him with me when I sprung out had you not shown up."

He might be a monster to everyone, but that did not mean he was a cruel one like Sayer and Akiza- at least when in 'witch' mode. He disliked what the man had made him do to Loudmouth and knew that if he did not escape along with the greenette, he was certain the boy would not be living much longer. The only problem had been trying to find out where Loudmouth had been imprisoned. It would have easier using his powers but knew they were watching him like a hawk in order to gauge how much psychic power he possessed, likely for whether or not to use him as a training dummy against Brambles when she was in ' _Witch_ ' mode or maybe even to brainwash him into another one of Sayer's puppets like those two he had dueled during their escape.

Of course, that was before he knew of Pinky's existence...

"Aahhh but I did show up. And is Mido one to leave an elephant like that lingering to strike?" There. Will knew she had him now. It may be petty, it may even be insulting to him. But she didn't care, she'd use any means to get them more numbers against the bastard who likely orchestrated all these events. She can apologize to him later maybe. Probably. Assuming they all survive to the end of this.

"What does she mean by elephant?" Leo asked out loud.

"Mido was feeling guilty about what happened to you during your duels, Leo, so he was going to get you out when he figured out how to escape also without alerting Sayer." Yusei explained for the male greenette.

"Only me?! He wasn't going to rescue Luna and take her away from me?!" Leo exclaimed too surprised by what he was hearing to be angry at the teen he was sure was trying to steal his sister away from him.

"Let's not go into any deep dark hypothetical whatchamacallits and just skip to the part where Mido agrees to come with." Will waved off Leo's shout as Luna elbowed her brother in the side glaring at him for those comments silently.

If looks could kill, Will was likely to have been killed many times over with the one Mido was giving her who looked like he was trying his hardest not to turn her into a red stain on the underside of a Gundam's foot.

"...Fine. I'll go as Pinky's rep to this meet- and as her bodyguard to Satellite." He added getting surprised looks from everyone. "You wouldn't be wanting me to know the enemy otherwise." He pointed out.

Yusei would not be surprised if Will had planned it this way. At least this meant that Luna and Akiza would have back up when it came to combating the Dark Signers later on in the form of Mido and Will respectively.

"So it's agreed. Myself, Will, Akiza and Mido will go to see Goodwin while everyone else stays here." Yusei said.

"Good luck, please come back safely." Luna said quietly.

Yusei nodded before he took the lead, everyone moving out the door downstairs to where the car waiting in front of the gate to the house. But Yusei and Will slowed down when someone walked out to meet them. A man who could never be mistaken for anybody else. Jack Atlas, former Enforcer, and the former Turbo Duel king. That is until Yusei usurped him. He didn't seem to be petty about it to Will, but with the look in his eyes, something must've happened in the time between when he lost and now. She had never seen him like this, with that sort of pain in his eyes.

"What's with you? You're actually going to take Goodwin's bait?" Jack grunted at his rival, who he saw first as the group was in a diamond formation. With Will at the back, Mido, Yusei, and Akiza at the front.

"Yes, if it means I get to find the truth behind that vision we saw in the stadium." Yusei said in a firm voice. The same vision that they all saw, all the signers saw. "and if the Satellite is really in danger, I'm going to do what I can to stop the threat."

"You're saying that's the fate of the signers?" Jack snorted, eyes cold. Having already gone through the speal the first time when Goodwin sold him that story. "By the way, behind you, isn't that-" He moved his head to see past Yusei, but he didn't need to as Will came up next to Yusei.

"Hey Jack. Long time no duel, huh?" Will joked lightly as the former king looked in shock.

"Will! You bugger! That's what you say after two years?!" Jack snorted as he quickly got over his shock. "Well at least you're still alive. That's good...Depending on your perspective." As expected, Will snickered slightly. The air noticeably lighter now. "What happened to you anyhow."

"Oh you know, a cult-" Akiza cleared her throat and looked at Will with a raised eyebrow. "Er, a _misguided_ group, the Arcadia Movement captured me."

"Well imagine us meeting again in a place like this." Jack hummed before he looked at the floor with a sad expression. "Listen, about Kari I-"

"Don't." Will looked away with a wince. "Just... _Don't_." She didn't want to talk about it. Not here, not now.

"Excuse me." Mina walked back into the building to stand next to Jack. "Any more conversation can be conducted on the way to Director Goodwin."

"...Let's get going." Yusei sighed as Akiza put a hand on Will's shoulder in a comforting manner.

* * *

If Goodwin was surprised or even perturbed by the line up in of visitors in his mansion instead of the four people he had searched for, he kept it well hidden from the three Signers and two street duelists. Still, he was certain the fourth Signer child was with them. Perhaps not here where he had hoped but definitely with them nonetheless.

"I am pleased you are all here today. After the events at the Arcadia movement building-" Goodwin began.

"Yeah, yeah. Save the written speech stuff for your supporters and get to why you're wanting my friends. And don't you dare say you just wanted to have a tea party." Will cut over Goodwin impatiently.

Same old Will, were the words going through Yusei and Jack's minds at her outburst glad that she had voiced what they all were likely thinking when Goodwin began speaking. Like Jack had mentioned earlier, Goodwin was likely getting them all together for something most likely to do with the Dark Signers and perhaps even Satellite if what he had seen during their Duel along with the other Signers.

"I see there is not much love for me in this room, is there." Goodwin stated dryly easily deducing that beating around the bush may actually incur a proper beating on his person. "Very well then. Let's move to the topic at hand. Observe…"

Pressing a button on his desk, a panel on the wall to the left slid away to reveal an impressive television screen. Blinking into life, the screen showed what looked to be the remains of an ancient, perhaps Aztec tower surrounded by a large ring in the shape of a dragon.

"This is the temple that lies beneath the mansion." Goodwin explained.

"Is that…?" Akiza began recognising the claws that looked just like the one on her arm.

"Indeed. It is the Crimson Dragon from ancient legend in its complete Signer bears on his or her right forearm a single part the Dragon as is passed down from the Legendary Signers you all succeed. Akiza Izinski and Luna Stevens, the claws; Jack Atlas, the wings: Yusei Fudo, the tail." Goodwin explained. "I am sure you three and Miss Stevens witnessed that vision at the Fortune Cup. That vision, along with those Marks, are all part of the path It laid out for us."

"You mean the path you laid out for them! Yusei and Jack wouldn't be here had you not inflated Jack's ego." Will interrupted once again.

"Excuse me?! I'll have you know I never let my ego get in the way of my duelling career!" Jack snapped at Will before turning on Goodwin. "And besides that, I chose to accept your offer. I could have just as easily turned my back on that little clown of a minion you have under your thumb.!"

They were both right. Had Goodwin not played on Jack's desire to be a better duellist than all of his friends, Yusei would not have followed after him and they may still be in Satellite right now which might have been better considering the danger their home looked to be in.

"That, in itself, is the destiny brought forth by the power of the Crimson Dragon." Goodwin countered smoothly. "What you believe is up to you but, as long as you are all Signers with power granted to you by the Crimson Dragon, you cannot escape fate."

"Well, destiny and fate can take a hike for all I care!" Will grunted not into all that fate and destiny baloney.

"You mentioned everyone having a piece of this red dragon. Who has the head?" Mido spoke up.

He had heard Goodwin mention Pinky, Brambles, Crabby and Hightower getting parts of this mythical dragon but had left out the head of the dragon. Obviously, the person who sported the dragon head was likely the head Signer so did that mean that Goodwin wielded it? It would certainly explain how he seemed to know so much about all this in Mido's opinion.

"The fifth Signer already knows of his power." Goodwin assured them.

"Then who is it? I can sense the bonds I have between Jack, Akiza and Luna whenever one of us are dueling and them me but never this fifth one." Yusei pointed out thinking along similar lines from Mido and he was sure his fellow Signers were wondering that also now.

"You will meet in due time." Was all Goodwin said in reply.

"Fine! Then tell us why this Signer feud is all about!" Will snapped growing impatient from all this cryptic mumbo-jumbo.

"Very well. A few thousand years ago all was nearly destroyed by evil incarnate, the King of the Underworld. However, the Crimson Dragon descended and sealed away that evil into the ground. Those are the Nazca Lines- or rather, how they came about." Goodwin explained. "The Dark Signers have recently began to revive them using the powers of the underworld to revive the King of the Underworld's minions sealed within those lines."

"Power of the Underworld?" Yusei repeated in confusion before realising Goodwin was referring to- "Shadow Duels?!"

Yusei suddenly remembered his duel with the Dark Signer underling. Not only had he mentioned that their duel was a Shadow Duel but he had used a Dark Synchro monster which required a high level tuner to be subtracted from a low level non-tuner bringing the Dark Synchro out as a negative level monster. It was as if the Dark Signers were drawing upon the powers of darkness and death compared to the bright light and hope a Synchro monster wielded as it appeared upon it's master's call.

"Yes. Shadow Duels. Where life and death hangs upon the outcome." Goodwin confirmed. "Recent events both in New Domino City and Satellite have suggested that things are progressing quickly through the initial stages."

That got Will, Yusei and Jack's attention.

"Soon, the Dark Signers will revive the King of the Underworld bringing about the end of the world as we know it."

"And as Signers, we've all been gathered to stop that from happening." Jack finished.

"Correct. The key to revive the King of the Underworld is in the Old Ener-D reactor situated in Satellite. Surrounding it, are four control stations that monitor and control the power of the reactor." Goodwin explained. "As long as we can retake these towers and seal them, the King of the Underworld cannot resurface."

Everyone was silent as they took this information in. For three of them, having lived in Satellite all their lives, none of them were aware that the Ener-D reactor, the ground zero of the Zero Reverse catastrophe, was still even remotely in existence having thought it had perished like the rest of Domino City.

While they lamented on this, Akiza, having stayed silent all this time, spoke up to the first time.

"How are we supposed to seal the reactors?" She asked Goodwin. As good a psychic as she was, she was still only a teenager going through school. Calculators, duel disks and her alarm clocks were the only machines she knew how to use effortlessly unlike a control tower which was undoubtedly extremely complex.

"All Signers should each have a Dragon Synchro monster card. Unlike regular cards these ones were specifically created by a card designer who was good friends with Professor Fudo who headed the Ener-D reactor project." Goodwin told her.

As if on reflex, Yusei, Jack and Akiza pulled out their respective signature monsters: Stardust Dragon, Red Dragon-Archfiend and Black Rose Dragon. While not in the room, Will was certain Luna's was the Ancient Fairy Dragon although she did not recall ever seeing the card.

"What's so special about our cards?" Jack asked as he held up his Red Dragon-Archfiend.

"When the Crimson Dragon fought the King of the Underworld, It was aided by six dragons. Like the legendary card designer Maximillion Pegasus who based many of his cards on ancient hieroglyphs he discovered in Egypt, including the three Egyptian God Cards wielded by the King of Games Yugi Muto, Yamamoto Midorikawa designed and created these cards, four of which Professor used as emergency cut off keys for the four control rooms." Goodwin explained. It really did seem like he had looked over and rehearsed any and all questions they might ask going by how quick his response times were.

"Hold the phone a second. You just said Midorikawa, right?" Will asked the surname sounding very familiar to her and everyone else in the room apart from Jack.

As one, all heads turned to stare at Mido. The taciturn teen himself was frowning slightly as if angry that he was being dragged further into this than he already wished.

"Never did tell you my real name, did I? Not that I wanted to." Mido muttered before raising his voice slightly. "My name is Gozaburo Midorikawa. That man the director just mentioned, he was my father."

* * *

 **Free: A nice long chapter ending with a cliffy. Should keep whatever followers we have left for this story.**

 **Grey: What followers? (pointing out into a deserted viewing theatre, crickets chirping in the background)**

 **Free: You never know.**


End file.
